If the opposition-controlled Legislative Yuan continues to block a proposed NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.6 billion) special defense budget, the international community could misunderstand Taiwan’s determination to defend itself, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday.
Pressure from politicians in the US — Taiwan’s most important international backer and arms supplier despite a lack of formal diplomatic ties — has grown on the Legislative Yuan not to hold up defense spending.
US Senator Ruben Gallego yesterday shared on X a Bloomberg report that “Taiwan’s opposition parties have advanced a bill that would slash a special military budget, potentially jeopardizing the purchases of billions of dollars of US weapons aimed at deterring the threat of invasion by China.”
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Commenting on the report, Gallego wrote: “Now is not the time to weaken Taiwan’s defenses. Cutting their defense budget undermines investments in essential weapons systems just as China’s threats are intensifying. Taiwan’s parliament should reconsider this move.”
Gallego’s move follows that of his colleagues in the US Senate.
On Monday, US Senator Roger Wicker, chairman of the Senate Committee on Armed Services and one of the strongest advocates for Taiwan in the US Congress, wrote on X that he was “disappointed” to see Taiwan’s opposition parties slash Lai’s defense budget.
Another US lawmaker, Republican Senator Dan Sullivan, a staunch supporter of US President Donald Trump’s administration, directly criticized the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), whose senior officials are visiting Beijing.
“It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what’s going on here,” he wrote on X, in reference to the visit. “I’ve warned before — short changing Taiwan’s defense to kowtow to the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] is playing with fire.”
Following their critiques, Lai said at a meeting at the Democratic Progressive Party’s headquarters in Taipei that if the opposition continued blocking the Executive Yuan’s proposed defense spending and presses on with its own version, “this is bound to delay improvements to [Taiwan’s] defense capabilities.”
That “could lead the international community to misunderstand Taiwan’s determination to defend itself and to safeguard peace in the Indo-Pacific” region, the party quoted the president as saying.
The opposition-dominated legislature has blocked the Cabinet’s budget plan, including missiles and drones as well as the new “T-Dome” air defense system, pushing instead for a proposal to fund only certain US arms, rather than the entire package.
The KMT has said that while it supports strengthening Taiwan’s defenses, it has a right to fully scrutinize government spending plans and would not sign “blank checks.”
“We thank members of the US Senate for their valuable input,” it said in an English-language statement.
“The KMT remains fully committed to safeguarding Taiwan’s security, strengthening our defense capabilities, and also engaging constructively through dialogue to advance peace and stability across the Strait,” it said.
China regularly stages military exercises around Taiwan, and refuses to talk to Lai, calling him a “separatist.”
Lai says only Taiwanese can decide their future.
“We should uphold the concept that the ‘two sides of the Strait are one family,’” Wang Huning (王滬寧), China’s top official in charge of Taiwan policy, told KMT Vice Chairman Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) during a meeting in Beijing earlier yesterday.
Both the KMT and the CCP must “resolutely oppose Taiwan independence separatism and interference by external forces, and jointly safeguard peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” state media quoted Wang as saying.
CHAOS: Iranians took to the streets playing celebratory music after reports of Khamenei’s death on Saturday, while mourners also gathered in Tehran yesterday Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a major attack on Iran launched by Israel and the US, throwing the future of the Islamic republic into doubt and raising the risk of regional instability. Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news agency announced the 86-year-old’s death early yesterday. US President Donald Trump said it gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back” their country. The announcements came after a joint US and Israeli aerial bombardment that targeted Iranian military and governmental sites. Trump said the “heavy and pinpoint bombing” would continue through the week or as long
TRUST: The KMT said it respected the US’ timing and considerations, and hoped it would continue to honor its commitments to helping Taiwan bolster its defenses and deterrence US President Donald Trump is delaying a multibillion-dollar arms sale to Taiwan to ensure his visit to Beijing is successful, a New York Times report said. The weapons sales package has stalled in the US Department of State, the report said, citing US officials it did not identify. The White House has told agencies not to push forward ahead of Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), it said. The two last month held a phone call to discuss trade and geopolitical flashpoints ahead of the summit. Xi raised the Taiwan issue and urged the US to handle arms sales to
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said that it had confirmed on Saturday night with its liquefied natural gas (LNG) and crude oil suppliers that shipments are proceeding as scheduled and that domestic supplies remain unaffected. The CPC yesterday announced the gasoline and diesel prices will rise by NT$0.2 and NT$0.4 per liter, respectively, starting Monday, citing Middle East tensions and blizzards in the eastern United States. CPC also iterated it has been reducing the proportion of crude oil imports from the Middle East and diversifying its supply sources in the past few years in response to geopolitical risks, expanding
Pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai’s (黎智英) fraud conviction and prison sentence were yesterday overturned by a Hong Kong court, in a surprise legal decision that comes soon after Lai was jailed for 20 years on a separate national security charge. Judges Jeremy Poon (潘兆初), Anthea Pang (彭寶琴) and Derek Pang (彭偉昌) said in the judgement that they allowed the appeal from Lai, and another defendant in the case, to proceed, as a lower court judge had “erred.” “The Court of Appeal gave them leave to appeal against their conviction, allowed their appeals, quashed the convictions and set aside the sentences,” the judges
RSS