The special arms procurement bill failed yet again to pass the legislature's Procedure Committee yesterday, the second attempt since the government adjusted the arms budget downward from the original NT$610.8 billion to NT$480 billion.
However, the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) caucus managed to push its anti-invasion peace bill (
The People First Party (PFP) also successfully moved forward the draft statute regarding the facilitation of peace across the Taiwan Strait (
The pan-blue-dominated Procedure Committee agreed to push the TSU's anti-invasion peace bill and the technology protection bill to committees for review, in exchange for the TSU's withdrawal of a bill regarding the disposition of assets improperly obtained by civil associations (
The anti-invasion peace bill says that the government should call a referendum and amend the Constitution to safeguard Taiwan's sovereignty if the cross-strait status quo is threatened. In addition, the bill would allow the president to use "non-peaceful means" to respond to a Chinese attack.
Commenting on the opposition camp's boycotting the arms procurement bill, DPP Legislator Chuang Suo-han (
"In the face of the war bill [the Anti-Secession Law] and China's military threats, we should show our determination to defend ourselves by passing the arms budget," Chuang said.
"I'm calling on the Procedure Committee to push the budget bill to the defense and budget committees for review and let committee members conduct substantial discussions of the bill."
DPP Legislator Kao Chien-chih (
"The Ministry of National Defense has reported on various occasions and on different aspects of the arms budget to the legislature's defense committee," he said. "It's time to send the bill to committee for further debates."
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆), however, said that his caucus will not agree to push the arms bill to committees for review unless the budget is earmarked as an annual one, rather than a special one.
People First Party (PFP) Legislator Lee Yung-ping (李永萍) proposed that the Executive Yuan withdraw the arms bill and earmark the budget as part of the national defense ministry's annual budget, to avoid the committees' review of the bill as a special budget.
DPP caucus whip Lai Ching-teh (賴清德) said that his caucus has not and will not boycott any bill proposed by the other legislative caucuses, except for pork-barrel bills proposed by individual lawmakers. Under this policy, the DPP caucus yesterday threw its backing behind a draft statute regarding the facilitation of peace across the Taiwan Strait proposed by the PFP.
The draft mandates the establishment of a 17-member committee and appointment of several "peace ambassadors" to address 11 cross-strait policy issues.
They include signing an agreement about direct transportation links, the establishment of a demilitarized zone, the inking of an accord to protect China-based Taiwanese businesspeople, the setting up of a cross-strait free trade zone, the holding of a cross-strait summit and the signing of a peace accord with China.
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central
RSS