The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) is to continue funding Cold War-era anti-communist non-governmental organizations (NGOs), despite criticism last year by pan-green lawmakers that the plan was obsolete and wasteful.
According to the ministry’s latest budget proposal to the legislature, it is requesting NT$26.57 billion (US$882.7 million) for next year, or an increase of NT$2.2 billion from this year.
A large part of the increase, or NT$1.3 billion, would be for “classified” diplomatic spending.
Nearly NT$22 million would go to the World League for Freedom and Democracy (WLFD, NT$18 million) and the Asian Pacific League for Freedom and Democracy (APLFD, NT$4 million), the proposed budget showed.
Last year, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and New Power Party (NPP) lawmakers tried to defund the two leagues, calling them Cold War-era relics of dubious relevance and sinecures for retired Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) elders.
The lawmakers included the DPP’s Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), Tsai Shih-ying (蔡適應), Wang Ding-yu (王定宇) and Liu Shih-fang (劉世芳), as well as the NPP’s Freddy Lim (林昶佐).
At the time, the lawmakers said the two leagues spent a majority of their budgets on personnel costs rather than purpose-related expenses, which were a waste of money.
The legislature eventually passed a reduced budget for the two organizations, after behind-the-scenes maneuvers by KMT Vice Chairman Tseng Yung-chuan (曾永權), who is also the WLFD vice president, and DPP caucus convener Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘).
WLFD president Yao Eng-chi (饒穎奇) last year became the subject of public controversy after he was seen on video attending a communist-organized event in China and standing in deference to the Chinese national anthem.
The fact that the WLFD’s president and vice president are “bigwigs” in the KMT shows that the organization is “not a fair or neutral group,” Liu said.
The two leagues are “shelter organizations for has-been politicians,” she added.
They have little public accountability or oversight and their funding should be discontinued unless they change their staffing by recruiting “neutral” professionals with credentials in international affairs, she said.
Tsai said it is inappropriate for the ministry to allocate specific budgets to NGOs like the two.
“Dedicated budget items are a form of guaranteed subsidies. As the WLFD and the APLFD are not governmental organizations and have no publicly appointed managers, they should not be given preferential treatment,” Tsai said.
“For the government to dedicate budget items to specific organizations is to imply responsibility over them. Having such an arrangement [with the two leagues] is unreasonable,” he said.
Instead, the ministry should fund the two leagues through regular channels for NGOs, Tsai added.
Trips for more than 100,000 international and domestic air travelers could be disrupted as China launches a military exercise around Taiwan today, Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said yesterday. The exercise could affect nearly 900 flights scheduled to enter the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) during the exercise window, it added. A notice issued by the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration showed there would be seven temporary zones around the Taiwan Strait which would be used for live-fire exercises, lasting from 8am to 6pm today. All aircraft are prohibited from entering during exercise, it says. Taipei FIR has 14 international air routes and
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
City buses in Taipei and New Taipei City, as well as the Taipei MRT, would on Saturday begin accepting QR code payments from five electronic payment providers, the Taipei Department of Transportation said yesterday. The new option would allow passengers to use the “transportation QR code” feature from EasyWallet, iPass Money, iCash Pay, Jkopay or PXPay Plus. Passengers should open their preferred electronic payment app, select the “transportation code” — not the regular payment code — unlock it, and scan the code at ticket readers or gates, General Planning Division Director-General Liu Kuo-chu (劉國著) said. People should move through the
The Ministry of National Defense (MND) today released images of the military tracking China’s People's Liberation Army (PLA) movements during the latest round of Chinese drills around Taiwan. The PLA began "Justice Mission 2025" drills today, carrying out live-fire drills, simulated strikes on land and maritime targets, and exercises to blockade the nation's main ports. The exercises are to continue tomorrow, with the PLA announcing sea and air space restrictions for five zones around Taiwan for 10 hours starting from 8:30am. The ministry today released images showing a Chinese J-16 fighter jet tracked by a F-16V Block 20 jet and the
RSS