The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday said it had put three east coast transportation bills on hold amid criticisms and party divisions.
As party members have not reached a consensus on the projects, the bills would not be passed by the middle of next month as planned, said KMT Culture and Communications Committee director Lee Yen-hsiu (李彥秀), who doubles as the party’s spokeswoman.
Spearheaded by KMT Legislator Fu Kun-chi, the three bills would require the government to expand the nation’s high-speed rail to the east coast, build an expressway linking Hualien and Taitung counties, and extend the east-west Shuishalian Freeway (Freeway No. 6) to Hualien from Nantou County.
Photo: CNA
The three projects have been estimated to cost more than NT$2 trillion (US$61.83 billion).
The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics has said that the large price tag would take funds away from other public projects, while Democratic Progressive Party legislators have said the “three money pit projects” would drain financial resources and take state funding away from other counties.
KMT lawmakers expressed differing viewpoints on the east coast transportation projects during caucus meetings over the past two days, Lee said.
“Fu concluded by saying he would respect the feedback and opinions of other party members, and we could rearrange the priority of the bills,” she said.
“Experts from KMT think tanks and party legislators spoke about major issues facing these three projects, mainly the budgets, engineering obstacles and having to get approval after environmental impact assessments,” Lee said.
KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) had spoken in private to political pundits, Lee said.
She quoted Chu as saying that “other people used smear tactics to vilify these three projects, so it is now quite difficult to push the bills through the legislative process.”
“The KMT caucus in conclusion said that we must try to reach some sort of consensus on these issues, and so it is not necessary to push them through as priority bills,” Lee said.
DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said that the KMT and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) are trying to deceive the public and have special funds taken from the state budget for the three infrastructure projects.
The only way to prevent political turmoil is to withdraw the three bills, he said.
TPP caucus whip Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) has been cooperating with Fu to strain the state budget by approving these bills, yet both are still claiming that no special funds would be allocated, and the government would not go into debt because of the three projects, Ker said.
“Stop playing games to deceive the public,” Ker said. “These three bills have contravened the Constitution. These two parties are planning to approve the bills ... [which would] require special funding allocated from the state coffers, violating the separation of powers between the different government branches.”
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to