Legislative Yuan President Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) said yesterday that it will not be easy for the legislature to pass the budget for a large arms purchase in October.
Wang made the remarks as the Legislative Yuan prepares to review a proposal by the Executive Yuan for a NT$610.8 billion (US$18 billion) budget to buy US arms.
Wang said that the ruling and opposition parties should first consult on a special statute regarding the arms purchase before they review the budget for the purchase.
Judging from that, he said, "It will be difficult for the arms purchase budget to clear the legislature in October."
Even as Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) demanded that the arms purchase bill be passed prior to the year-end legislative elections, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the People First Party (PFP) adopted a defensive posture making use of their majority in the legislature to demand massive cuts in the cost of submarines included in the arms package.
Wang earlier has said that NT$150 billion should be cut from the budget, while the PFP has demanded a cut of at least NT$180 billion.
While not totally opposed to the submarine purchase, the KMT and PFP legislators demand a "reasonable" price for the purchase, and have stated objections to the prior incorporation of the sale into the budget, as requested by the US.
Meanwhile, eleven Academia Sinica research fellows have signed a petition against the arms purchase plan.
In a statement made Sunday called "Know Taiwan, a Warning to Avert Disaster," the academics said that the nation was descending into authoritarianism, ethnic conflict, an escalation of cross-strait tensions and a spiraling arms buildup. They called on the public to counter these trends, saying that rejecting the arms purchase bill would be a first major step in the right direction.
The petition was written by Lao Sze-kwang (勞思光), who is overseas and had to cancel his plan to appear at Sunday's event due to health problems. A total of eight of the 11 signatories are not in the country.
The petitioners stated that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) lied when he said the arms bill would not affect other budgetary allocations for such things as education and social welfare.
They said the NT$610.8 billion arms budget was a huge financial burden on the country, and that it would lead to demands for further arms purchases. They ar-gued that even if the nation emptied its coffers to buy arms, this would not scare off its enemies, but simply cause them to further build up their military strength in response.
The petitioners also said that this military buildup would in no way reduce the chance of conflict.
On Sept. 25, the Democratic Action Alliance and the Anti-Arms Purchasing Alliance (6108反軍購大聯盟) will stage a rally and concert, calling on the government to use the money to improve transportation, education and social welfare instead of for the arms purchase.
Anti-Arms Purchasing Alliance convenor Chang Ya-chung (張亞中), said that while the government is selling land, issuing bonds and using other methods to raise money for the purchase, many people in Taiwan are still suffering the effects of recent storm and flood damage or are unable to pay school fees, feed their children and pay their mortgages.
Responding to the Academia Sinica researchers' petition, Cabinet Spokesman Chen Chi-mai (
"The government's arms procurement plan is not aimed at military competition but at effective intimidation and national security," Chen said. "We'd like to remind the public not to embrace quixotic thinking about China and think that it would minimize its military threat."
The US-China Commission's annual report to the US Congress found that China's official budget allocation for weapons procurement showed an approximately 1,000 percent increase over a 12-year period, far outpacing China's rapid growth in GDP.
Although the officially announced Chinese arms budget this year is more than US$25 billion, the report said that the budget is grossly underreported, estimating it at between US$50 billion to US$70 billion, ranking China third in military spending after the US and Russia.
As the Chinese government is drafting a unification law, Chen said that Beijing's cross-strait policy is expected to shift from "no Taiwan independence, no military assault" to "no unification, no peace."
"Despite China's bloodless transfer of power of its highest military chief yesterday, Beijing is still reluctant to talk with us," Chen said.
Taiwanese scientists have engineered plants that can capture about 50 percent more carbon dioxide and produce more than twice as many seeds as unmodified plants, a breakthrough they hope could one day help mitigate global warming and grow more food staples such as rice. If applied to major food crops, the new system could cut carbon emissions and raise yields “without additional equipment or labor costs,” Academia Sinica researcher and lead author the study Lu Kuan-jen (呂冠箴) said. Academia Sinica president James Liao (廖俊智) said that as humans emit 9.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide compared with the 220 billion tonnes absorbed
The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Wanda-Zhonghe Line is 81.7 percent complete, with public opening targeted for the end of 2027, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said today. Surrounding roads are to be open to the public by the end of next year, Hou said during an inspection of construction progress. The 9.5km line, featuring nine underground stations and one depot, is expected to connect Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Station to Chukuang Station in New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和). All 18 tunnels for the line are complete, while the main structures of the stations and depot are mostly finished, he
Taipei is to implement widespread road closures around Taipei 101 on Friday to make way for large crowds during the Double Ten National Day celebration, the Taipei Department of Transportation said. A four-minute fireworks display is to be launched from the skyscraper, along with a performance by 500 drones flying in formation above the nearby Nanshan A21 site, starting at 10pm. Vehicle restrictions would occur in phases, they said. From 5pm to 9pm, inner lanes of Songshou Road between Taipei City Hall and Taipei 101 are to be closed, with only the outer lanes remaining open. Between 9pm and 9:40pm, the section is
China’s plan to deploy a new hypersonic ballistic missile at a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) base near Taiwan likely targets US airbases and ships in the western Pacific, but it would also present new threats to Taiwan, defense experts said. The New York Times — citing a US Department of Defense report from last year on China’s military power — on Monday reported in an article titled “The missiles threatening Taiwan” that China has stockpiled 3,500 missiles, 1.5 times more than four years earlier. Although it is unclear how many of those missiles were targeting Taiwan, the newspaper reported
RSS