The Legislative Yuan yesterday referred four competing bills on procuring domestically produced drones to committee review, setting up a battle that would focus mainly on how the government should fund its purchase of drones.
The bills, one from the Cabinet, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lin Chu-yin (林楚茵), are to undergo a joint review by the Finance, Economics, Foreign Affairs and National Defense committees.
The Cabinet proposed its bill last month after opposition parties removed funding for domestic drone purchases from the NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.15 billion) special defense budget bill the Executive Yuan had proposed earlier in the year.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
The KMT and the TPP, which hold a combined majority in the legislature, passed an alternative version of the special budget bill, with a spending cap of NT$780 billion that focused on the purchase of US weapons.
The Cabinet’s drone procurement bill and Lin’s bill are identical in their push for a six-year NT$210 billion special budget to buy drones.
The only difference between the two is that Lin’s bill explicitly ties the legislation to the opposition’s removal of NT$470 billion from the Cabinet’s special budget bill, saying that it hampered Taiwan’s efforts to build asymmetric capabilities.
The KMT’s bill would allocate NT$240 billion through the general budget over six years.
The TPP’s version does not have a spending cap, but would require funding to also come through annual appropriations from the general budget.
The government would also be required to devise uncrewed aerial vehicle development guidelines every four years and review them every two years, the TPP’s bill says.
The main difference between the ruling and the opposition’s bills is the source of funding.
The Ministry of National Defense and the DPP said that using a special budget — which is considered separate from the general budget and is designated for specific purposes — would ensure stable funding.
That would enable the ministry to place large, long-term orders with domestic defense companies while supporting innovation to keep pace with rapidly evolving drone technology, they said.
However, opposition parties said that funding drone procurement through the general budget would reduce corruption risks and uphold fiscal discipline.
The size of the budget would also be a negotiating point.
Despite its concern over corruption risks and fiscal discipline, the KMT’s bill has a higher spending cap than the DPP’s, but did not explain why.
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