Sat, Oct 21, 2023 page1

• Premier calls for rationality after KMT legislator plans defense budget freezes

  • By Wu Su-wei, Lin Hsin-han and Jake Chung / Staff reporters, with staff writer
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  The Indigenous Defense Submarine program is important to maintain Taiwan’s stability, so party caucuses should discuss funding proposals rationally and reasonably, Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) said yesterday amid reports that Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ma Wen-chun (馬文君) has proposed 135 motions to cut or freeze national defense budget proposals, including for the program.

  The legislature’s National Defense and Foreign Policy Committee is to review the national defense budget next week.

  Legislative Yuan records show that Ma has made 121 proposals to freeze NT$1.29 billion (US$39.91 million) of defense spending and cut NT$180 million, alongside 14 other proposals to slash funds for classified projects.

  

  Premier Chen Chien-jen speaks at a question-and-answer session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday.

  Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times.

  Citing a lack of submarine testing experience, Ma proposed freezing NT$300 million of the program’s funding, with the money to be made available after program officials and the Ministry of National Defense brief the legislature on the details of testing procedures.

  KMT Legislator Liao Wan-ju (廖婉汝) also proposed a NT$30 million budget freeze, citing delays in 2021 and last year of project implementation and questioning the ministry’s intent for allotting funding for a prototype submarine well into 2025.

  The funding would be available once the ministry submits a report addressing her questions and the legislature finds it satisfactory, Liao said.

  The ministry allotted NT$3.93 billion for the program next year to cover the costs of optimizing the prototype submarine.

  The KMT caucus yesterday issued a notice in support of Ma.

  The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has governed for seven years with a legislative majority, and it is not news that its legislators are only parroting the party stance instead of upholding the public’s interests, the statement said.

  Ahead of planned defense budget reviews, the DPP has malignantly distorted Ma’s proposals in “an act of revenge,” when she exercised her constitutional duty of government oversight, it said.

  Freezing funds is a tool employed by the eight standing legislative committees to ensure that the government observes fiscal responsibility, which is in line with the checks and balances nature inherent in a democratic system, the KMT said.

  DPP lawmakers ignoring their duties of government oversight and slandering opposition legislators for doing their jobs should be condemned, it said.

  Separately, the DPP caucus said that the KMT’s proposals were an abuse of legislative power.

  DPP Legislator Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) said that while lawmakers are allowed to cut and freeze budgets, the power should not be abused for personal vengeance.

  Ma’s actions could be construed as an open threat to the administrative arm of government, Hung said.

  Meanwhile, Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) declined to comment on the budget proposals, saying that legislators were doing their jobs.

  Chen said that the submarine program is important to bolster the nation’s coastal frontier defense, maintain Taiwan’s stability and peace in the region, so hopefully the caucuses would discuss the issue rationally and supervise the government reasonably.

  Additional reporting by Chen Cheng-yu and Yu Kai-hsiang
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