Despite heated outbursts by some lawmakers, Premier Yu Shyi-kun yesterday managed to report to the legislature on the extra budget for the NT$500 billion 10 key infrastructure projects and relief action regarding damage caused by Tropical Storm Mindulle.
He was also able to accept interpellations about the special budget for the infrastructure projects, although some lawmakers who were unhappy with the failure to list their own agendas in the extra session disrupted proceedings.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
As far as the infrastructure projects are concerned, Yu said in his report that the Executive Yuan was preparing NT$36.5 billion this year for sub-projects under the "third-generation highway" and the "mass rapid transit systems in Northern, Central and Southern Taiwan."
Yu said that the Executive Yuan was preparing an extra budget of NT5.7 billion for damage relief, with NT$4.6 billion coming from interest generated from the China Steel Corporation's shares, and the rest from the unspent budget left from last year.
After Yu's report, the extra budget plans will first be reviewed in the related committees in the next few days before being voted on in the sitting.
Yu then got into an argument with Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chi Kuo-tung (
Cabinet Spokesman Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) later yesterday said although the Cabinet did not earmark a special budget for the museum project next year, it will make the budget request in 2005 to allay opposition parties' anger towards the Cabinet's failure to subsidize the museum project.
Yu blamed this failure on the Special Statute for Increasing Investment in Public Construction (擴大公共建設投資特別條例) and said it was the pan-blue camp that made it more difficult to prepare budgets, since the statute stipulated the government offer alternatives to major projects.
Deputy Legislative Speaker Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤), who served as chairman of the interpellation session, corrected Yu by saying the regulations in fact stemmed from the Budget Law (預算法). The statute did not originate from the pan-blue camp's version, he said, but from the mutual efforts of himself and the Cabinet-level Council for Economic Planning and Development.
Chiang spoke up again later to suggest the Executive Yuan made it clear that even though the government did not prepare a budget for certain projects this year, it did not mean the government would not do so in the future.
Although the extra session began as planned with Yu's report, some lawmakers still questioned the necessity of the extra session.
"During the last regular session, over half the times when lawmakers were supposed to participate in committee meetings, they were absent and forced the meetings to abort due to insufficient numbers," Taiwan Solidarity Union's Cheng Cheng-lung (
Cheng pointed out that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators made up one third of the legislature, and there would not have been aborted meetings if the DPP legislators were diligent.
Yu was originally scheduled to report on the extra budget plans in the morning, but he only managed to do so in the afternoon due to chaos on the floor in the morning.
Some KMT legislators led by Liu Cheng-hung (
Two groups managed to prevent Yu from giving his report by occupying the podium for the entire morning, but they finally backed off at noon, and Yu was able to give his report in the afternoon.
Additional reporting by Ko Shu-ling
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS