Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday urged President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to pass the DPP’s version of legislation related to farmers’ subsidies in the legislature as soon as possible.
The KMT, which enjoys a majority in the Legislative Yuan, should take the initiative to solve the controversial issue, which has been stalled for months, Tsai said during a presidential campaign stop in Miaoli County.
“We urge President Ma and the KMT to stop its stalling tactics and end its refusal to initiate inter--party negotiation on the bill by speeding up the legislation process to pass the bill before the current legislative session concludes,” she said.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
The DPP and the KMT have been engaged in a fierce debate about increasing the elderly farmers’ monthly subsidy, which is NT$6,000 per month.
Different proposals, including ones drafted by the DPP caucus, the KMT caucus, the Executive Yuan and several KMT legislators, still need to be discussed in the legislature.
The DPP caucus proposed raising the monthly subsidy by NT$1,000, but the Executive Yuan on Oct. 20 decided it should be increased by NT$316.
Tsai said that the production of various agricultural produce around the country, — and fruit in particular — has become unbalanced of late.
“However, President Ma has turned a blind eye to the phenomenon, which is difficult to understand because Ma has been traveling around the nation and should be able to understand what is happening,” she added.
The amendment to the Temporary Statute Regarding the Welfare Pension of Senior Farmers (老年農民福利津貼暫行條例) has not cleared the legislature because the issue of farmers’ subsidies has come to resemble a bidding war between the two parties ahead of the Jan. 14 presidential and legislative elections.
While the DPP has proposed an increase to NT$7,000, a number of KMT legislators have come up with different proposals, including increases to NT$7,500 and NT$10,000 a month.
Three KMT legislators, Chung Shao-ho (鍾紹和), Chang Chia-chun (張嘉郡) and Wong Chung-chun (翁重鈞), have said that they would firmly oppose the Executive Yuan’s proposal.
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS