Social and political groups mobilized against the passage of a controversial arms budget statute yesterday, with pan-blue legislative caucuses promising to boycott the statute when it comes up in the Legislative Yuan's Procedure Committee today. Meanwhile, anti-arms social group, the Democratic Action Alliance (DAA), waged a hunger strike at the legislature yesterday and warned legislators not to support the statute in the committee.
Calling the budget plan too expensive, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and People First Party (PFP) held press conferences reiterating their determination to send the Cabinet's proposed budget plan and statute allowing the budget formation back to the Executive Yuan.
PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
"The NT$610.8 billion arms budget must be cut down by NT$30 billion and be passed through the regular budgetary procedure, instead of being proposed along with the special budget statute," said KMT caucus whip Huang Teh-fu (
The NT$610.8 billion (US$18.6 billion) arms purchase special budget has met heavy resistance from social groups and opposition parties since the Cabinet proposed it earlier this year.
Up until now, the government has been unable to pass the statute allowing it to form special budget proposals and the budget plan itself through the legislature's Procedure Committee, which decides the agenda for each legislative sitting.
Given the consensus by the pan-blue camp to again boycott the statue today, it is unlikely that the statute will be discussed this legislative session after it reconvenes on Dec. 13.
Aside from the cost, the pan-blue caucuses objected to the government's attempt to simultaneously propose the statute that would make the special budget proposal legal at the same time as the budget plan itself.
"The statute regulating the formation of special budget cases has not even been passed yet; how can the government ask us to approve the special arms budget at the same time as the statute?" asked PFP caucus spokesperson Liu Wen-hsiung (
If the government wants the caucuses' support, it will first have to wait for the legislature to discuss and pass the statute allowing special budget cases, and then propose the arms budget, Liu said yesterday.
"Until then, there is no way that the budget will not get sent back to the Executive Yuan," Liu said.
The KMT legislative caucus' decision to boycott the statute and the special budget came as a surprise, given that Legislative Speaker and KMT Vice Chairman Wang Jin-pyng (
Reacting to Wang's comments, the DAA also added its voice to the fray by staging a sit-in hunger strike outside of the Legislative Yuan yesterday afternoon.
Saying that they did not trust the legislative caucuses, the group gathered over 20 academics to stage the protest and warned that they would be watching out for who supported and opposed the statute and budget plan in today's meeting.
The hunger strike is to last until the procedural committee's decision is made clear today.
The DAA staged a similar sit-in protest on the steps of the legislature before last week's Procedure Committee meeting to protest the statute's possible passage.
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
RISKY BUSINESS: The ‘incentives’ include initiatives that get suspended for no reason, creating uncertainty and resulting in considerable losses for Taiwanese, the MAC said China’s “incentives” failed to sway sentiment in Taiwan, as willingness to work in China hit a record low of 1.6 percent, a Ministry of Labor survey showed. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) also reported that the number of Taiwanese workers in China has nearly halved from a peak of 430,000 in 2012 to an estimated 231,000 in 2024. That marked a new low in the proportion of Taiwanese going abroad to work. The ministry’s annual survey on “Labor Life and Employment Status” includes questions respondents’ willingness to seek employment overseas. Willingness to work in China has steadily declined from
The number of pet cats in Taiwan surpassed that of pet dogs for the first time last year, reaching 1,742,033, a 32.8 percent increase from 2023, the Ministry of Agriculture said yesterday, citing a survey. By contrast, the number of pet dogs declined slightly by 1.2 percent over the same period to 1,462,528, the ministry said. Despite the shift, households with dogs still slightly outnumber those with cats by 1.2 percent. However, while the number of households with multiple dogs has remained relatively stable, households keeping more than two cats have increased, contributing to the overall rise in the feline population. The trend
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
RSS