Taipei city councilors yesterday voted to reinstate in full the monetary gifts issued to retired city government officials on three national holidays.
Following marathon cross-party negotiations on Thursday that continued until yesterday afternoon, the city councilors took unresolved budgetary items to a plenary session for a vote.
A proposal to retain the NT$2,000 monetary gifts issued to former city government employees at the Lunar New Year, Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays — which Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) had proposed halving — was passed, with 34 voting for the NT$150 million (US$4.5 million) budget and 27 against.
Meanwhile, a vote regarding a much-debated second reserve fund, for which Ko had requested a record-high NT$1.5 billion, saw the proposal tendered by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus to trim the fund to NT$950 million defeated by a thin margin of five votes. As a result, a NT$1.25 billion figure put forward by the Democratic Progressive Party caucus, independent city councilors and their counterparts from smaller political parties was passed.
However, a budget request of NT$12 million for the UN Habitat forum, which Taipei won a bid to host, was rejected. The denial came just a day after Ko pleaded with city councilors to pass it, saying the event would help boost Taiwan’s international space.
Only 22 city councilors voted in favor of the forum’s budget, while five abstained.
Also deleted was a NT$13 million budget for the 2050 Vision project, which involved a panel of 19 academics and private-sector professionals fine-tuning the city’s urban planning projects, with 33 city councilors voting against it and five abstaining.
Meanwhile, a special project concerning a water price increase was passed by the council.
The proposal for a NT$1.3 increase per tonne of water consumed by entities using between 20 tonnes and 60 tonnes of water each month was cut to NT$1, while a proposal to raise the price to NT$9 per tonne for entities using between 61 tonnes and 200 tonnes of water per month was trimmed to NT$8.5.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard