The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday defended amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) that the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said would necessitate an overhaul of the 2025 general budget.
The amendments, if promulgated into law, would allocate 60 percent of available funding to local governments rather than 25 percent, which would result in an annual reduction to central government spending power of NT$375.3 billion (US$11.48 billion), the Directorate-General of Budgeting, Accounting, and Statistics (DGBAS) said.
At a news conference yesterday, KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Szu-ming (林思銘) rejected claims made by government ministers that the revisions, which cleared the legislature on Friday following brawls between lawmakers, would harm central government spending on defense, social welfare and other major programs.
Photo: CNA
Lin said that the reallocation of funding would instead reward fiscally responsible local governments and encourage them to promote economic development and create jobs, rather than relying on central government handouts.
“When President William Lai (賴清德) was mayor of Tainan, he called for amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures,” Lin said, suggesting that the DPP also sought greater funds for local governments when it previously was in opposition.
“Basically, what [for them] was right yesterday is wrong today,” Lin said. “They changed places and changed their minds.”
DGBAS Minister Chen Shu-tzu (陳淑姿) said the changes would cause “procedural chaos” in relation to the 2025 general budget, which has already been hotly contested by lawmakers in the past few months.
The central government would lose 9 percent of its total revenue if the law goes into effect, Chen said.
That would necessitate massive reductions in spending, including cuts for defense that would be equivalent to a 28 percent reduction, Chen added.
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
Trips for more than 100,000 international and domestic air travelers could be disrupted as China launches a military exercise around Taiwan today, Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said yesterday. The exercise could affect nearly 900 flights scheduled to enter the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) during the exercise window, it added. A notice issued by the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration showed there would be seven temporary zones around the Taiwan Strait which would be used for live-fire exercises, lasting from 8am to 6pm today. All aircraft are prohibited from entering during exercise, it says. Taipei FIR has 14 international air routes and
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
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