Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) confirmed that the arms budget stalemate is a cause of great concern for the US, and the inability to pass the arms procurement bill has caused the US to say that it does not rule out the possibility of canceling the sale of other already agreed-upon arms.
In an hour-long meeting with Wang on Thursday, former chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Richard Bush focused on the legislature's delay in passing the arms procurement bill.
During the meeting, Bush was said to have asked Wang why Taiwan will not show the will to defend itself by increasing the defense budget to three percent of GDP [approx. NT$300 billion (US$8.95 billion)]. Wang replied that if the special arms budget is added to the current defense budget that it will indeed bring the amount up to at least three percent of GDP.
The special budget that would have allowed Taiwan to purchase three major weapons systems from the US -- including 12 P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft, three PAC-3 Patriot anti-missile batteries and eight diesel-electric submarines -- was proposed by the government last year.
The special budget has languished in the Legislative Yuan ever since, due to opposition from the pan-blue alliance, which holds a legislative majority.
Wang said that to resolve the differences over the issue, he has on several occasions told President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) that, to win the pan-blue camp's support, Chen must explain the failure of the referendum on the arms procurement issue.
He said he has also told Chen that since the People First Party (PFP) is more strongly opposed to the bill than the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), that he must try to improve his relationship with PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜).
The Ministry of National Defense has even removed the cost of the Patriot missiles from the special budget, seen as a major concession to critics of the bill, and included them in the annual defense budget.
But on Nov. 9, the legislature's National Defense Committee and the Budget and Final Accounts Committee slashed the NT$10.9 billion that was put aside to buy the Patriot missile batteries from the budget.
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
The Taipei District Court today ruled to extend the incommunicado detention of former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and Taipei City Councilor Angela Ying (應曉薇) for two more months as part of an ongoing corruption trial. Codefendants in the case — real-estate tycoon Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京) and Ko's former mayoral office head Lee Wen-tsung (李文宗) — were granted bail of NT$100 million (US$3.4 million) and NT$20 million respectively. Sheen and Lee would also be barred from leaving the country for eight months and prohibited from contact with, harassing, threatening or inquiring after the case with codefendants or witnesses. The two would also be
RSS