The Cabinet yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Political Donations Act (政治獻金法) aimed at increasing the transparency of campaign financing and reducing the risk of illegal activities, the Executive Yuan said.
The drafts were approved at a meeting chaired by Premier William Lai (賴清德), who described them as an embodiment of the resolutions made by the National Congress on Judicial Reform.
If passed by the Legislative Yuan, the amendments would require that contributions to politicians from individual and corporate donors be made public through the Control Yuan’s Web site, Deputy Minister of the Interior Hua Ching-chun (花敬群) said.
Photo: Lee Hsin-fang, Taipei Times
The Political Donations Act requires the Control Yuan to publish online only a political campaign’s final accounts, whereas the proposal would require the publication of all 25 items in campaign finance reports, he said.
The amendments also stipulate that the Control Yuan publish the campaign finance reports of each politician in full, instead of just a portion of them, he said.
They would shift the period during which township mayoral candidates are permitted to receive political contributions to coincide with those of city and county councilor candidates, officials said.
City and county councilor candidates are allowed to receive donations starting from eight months before the current postholder’s tenure is expected to expire until the day before election day.
The amendments would also establish a legal framework for political contributions made to the campaigns of Aboriginal district administrators and city councilors in the six special municipalities, the premier said.
Clearer regulations would help protect the political rights of Aboriginal citizens and their elected representatives, he said.
The Ministry of the Interior has been told to help party caucuses facilitate the speedy passage of the bill through the legislature, he said.
The Executive Yuan is also considering drafting additional amendments that would legalize and regulate campaign contributions during recall elections as part of its next round of campaign finance law reforms, a Ministry of the Interior official said on condition of anonymity.
DRONE CENTRAL: Taiwan aims to become Asia’s democratic hub for drones, with most exports focused on high-quality military-grade models, an official said Taiwan’s drone industry is expected to expand significantly by 2030, producing 100,000 units per month and exporting half of them, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Current drone production capacity is about 15,000 units per month, but the industry can quickly scale up as demand increases, Industrial Development Administration Director-General Chiou Chyou-huey (邱求慧) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s drone output grew 2.5-fold last year to NT$12.9 billion (US$408.3 million) under a government program to develop the uncrewed vehicle sector, he said. The Executive Yuan in October last year approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion into domestic production of uncrewed aerial
WARNING: China should stop engaging in actions that undermine regional peace and stability, as it would only build resentment among people across the Strait, the CGA said China has deployed more than 100 navy, coast guard and other vessels in waters from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea and the western Pacific since US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met in Beijing, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday. “In this part of the world, #China is the one & only PROBLEM wrecking the #StatusQuo & threatening regional peace & stability,” Wu wrote on X. In a separate post, he said Beijing was coercing Taiwan’s maritime domain, calling it illegal and provocative, after the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) expelled a
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
More than 8,000 people took part in a rally in Taipei yesterday to express support for more defense spending, after the opposition slashed the Cabinet’s proposed NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.6 billion) special defense budget and capped it at NT$780 billion. The demonstrators urged the Cabinet to propose another bill. Taiwan Economic Democracy Union convener Lai Chung-chiang (賴中強) said the main problem of the passed budget plan is the removal of funding for critical items, not just that the total amount is smaller. Critical budget items included purchasing or developing uncrewed vehicles, Strong Bow (強弓) missile systems, additional ammunition, artificial intelligence-powered combat systems and Taiwan-US
RSS