The Executive Yuan yesterday unveiled a NT$237.3 billion (US$8.54 billion) special budget to enhance the military’s air and naval capabilities, including a NT$79.7 billion program to set up coastal anti-ship missile batteries.
On Tuesday, the Legislative Yuan approved a bill authorizing the government to draft a special budget of up to NT$240 billion for arms procurements over the next five years. The bill was later promulgated by the Presidential Office.
Speaking at a news conference after yesterday’s weekly Cabinet meeting, Executive Yuan spokesman Lo Ping-cheng (羅秉成) quoted Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) as saying that the nation must strengthen its defensive capabilities in response to China’s aggressive military posture.
Photo: CNA
The asymmetric naval capabilities to be created by the program are crucial to national security and the Cabinet expresses its gratitude to the Legislative Yuan, which acted quickly to raise the budget limit, Su added.
Program funds would purchase precision-guided missiles and high-performance warships, and retrofit coast guard cutters for combat, he said.
Lo said that the premier has arranged to personally report on the Cabinet’s proposal to the legislature and has informed officials to work closely with lawmakers so that the special budget might be approved in the current legislative session.
The proposal would be funded by increasing the national debt, which would make it possible to meet these urgent national security requirements in the shortest possible time, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics said in a news release.
The acquisition of NT$79.7 billion in Harpoon Coastal Defense Systems and munitions is the largest item in the budget, the agency said.
The budget authorizes the government to spend NT$69.2 billion on the mass production of Ta Chiang-class corvettes, while NT$3.2 billion in weapon systems and equipment would be secured so that the coast guard’s offshore patrol cutters might be retrofitted, it said.
The air-defense items procured would include NT$8.9 billion for mobile air-defense systems and NT$34.7 billion for ground-based defense systems, it added.
The counterattack systems procured would include NT$12 billion for attack drones, NT$12.6 billion for Wan Chien air-to-ground cruise missiles and NT$17 billion for Hsiung Sheng cruise missiles, it said.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
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