The executive and legislative branches yesterday moved a step closer to finding a resolution to a NT$68.5 billion shortfall in the fiscal 2002 budget, after the Cabinet agreed to cut its interest spending to narrow the gap.
However, as the government will only be able to reduce interest spending by some NT$10 billion, the Cabinet was expecting the legislature to help pass a supplementary budget to settle the rest of the shortfall, some NT$58.5 billion.
Cabinet Secretary-General Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) and Lin Chuan (林全), head of the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, raised the proposal during a visit to legislative speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平).
According to Wang, the Cabinet's proposal will be presented for discussion during an inter-party negotiation today, in the hope that common ground can be found among lawmakers.
In addition to cutting interest spending, Lee and Lin also proposed decreasing personnel, business and labor insurance expenses to help balance the budget.
This proposal was rejected by Wang, who in turn suggested cutting the privatization operation fund by NT$5 billion and a secondary reserve fund by NT$10 billion.
Wang said that the legislature is trying to assist the Cabinet in solving the problem, but that it is unlikely the legislature would pass another resolution to replace the one under which the Cabinet is required to adjust its spending to resolve the shortfall.
As the Cabinet failed to ask the legislature to reconsider its decision before the legal deadline, the Executive Yuan will have to carry out the resolution, Wang said.
In what was considered by opposition lawmakers as contempt for the Legislative Yuan, the Cabinet has ignored the resolution, passed by the legislature in January, and taken no action to balance the budget over the past two months.
Some opposition lawmakers have threatened to refer Lin to the Control Yuan for investigation unless the Cabinet does something to deal with the problem soon.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
MINOR DISRUPTION: The outage affected check-in and security screening, while passport control was done manually and runway operations continued unaffected The main departure hall and other parts of Terminal 2 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport lost power on Tuesday, causing confusion among passengers before electricity was fully restored more than an hour later. The outage, the cause of which is still being investigated, began at about midday and affected parts of Terminal 2, including the check-in gates, the security screening area and some duty-free shops. Parts of the terminal immediately activated backup power sources, while others remained dark until power was restored in some of the affected areas starting at 12:23pm. Power was fully restored at 1:13pm. Taoyuan International Airport Corp said in a
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