The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus urged opposition legislators yesterday to release the budgets for the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) and the National Security Council (NSC), warning that their operations will grind to a halt by late next month.
At a press conference at the Legislative Yuan, DPP caucus whip Chen Chin-jun (
He expressed the worry that if the budget freeze is not cancelled, the MAC and the NSC will not be able to pay their utility bills in the next couple of months, let alone staff salaries.
Chen urged the opposition legislators not to block the motion for the ninth time when it is reintroduced in the procedure committee today.
In January, the opposition-controlled legislature slashed the MAC's budget for this year by 21 percent, a total of NT$96 million (US$3 million), and froze one half of the approved part of its budget in an apparent move to show their dissatisfaction with the MAC's performance last year.
KMT and PFP legislators passed a resolution requiring council officials to appear at the legislature's Home and Nations Committee and Budget and Final Accounts Committee to defend the MAC's China policy.
The MAC has been at odds with the KMT and the PFP on how to handle relations with China.
Last December, the council refused to allow Chen Yunlin (陳雲林), director of the Taiwan Affairs Office under China's State Council, to visit Taiwan to attend a cross-strait economic and cultural forum sponsored by the KMT.
More recently, the MAC further angered the opposition by calling China's gesture of offering a pair of pandas to Taiwan "a united front tactic."
The NSC also suffered a budget cut of NT$8 million, with two-thirds of its NT$200 million budget frozen.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
STAY AWAY: An official said people should avoid disturbing snakes, as most do not actively attack humans, but would react defensively if threatened Taitung County authorities yesterday urged the public to stay vigilant and avoid disturbing snakes in the wild, following five reported snakebite cases in the county so far this year. Taitung County Fire Department secretary Lin Chien-cheng (林建誠) said two of the cases were in Donghe Township (東河) and involved the Taiwan habus, one person was bit by a Chinese pit viper near the South Link Railway and the remaining two were caused by unidentified snakes. He advised residents near fields to be cautious of snakes hiding in shady indoor areas, especially when entering or leaving their homes at night. In case of a
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
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