Cross-party negotiations over the central government’s budget for this year are expected to continue today after lawmakers failed to reach a consensus amid heated debate yesterday.
With more than 3,000 proposals to review, the three days originally scheduled might not be enough for negations, Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) said.
If negotiations are not completed by tomorrow, the party caucuses should continue negotiations over the weekend, outside of plenary sessions, Han said.
Photo: CNA
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) caucuses were on the verge of proposing comprehensive cuts that would threaten to shut down multiple government ministries, Chinese-language media reported.
Cuts expected to be proposed by the KMT include suspending NT$1.8 billion (US$54.44 million) of the Ministry of National Defense’s NT$2 billion budget for an indigenous defense submarine program.
Other KMT proposals are expected to cut the operating budgets of the Ministry of Digital Affairs, the Ministry of Agriculture, the National Communications Commission (NCC) and the Mainland Affairs Council to NT$1 each, while other ministries would lose 70 percent of their operating budgets.
KMT caucus members called for all ministries to have their funding for public relations and media promotion struck entirely.
The proposals prompted criticism from officials, with several ministries warning that the normal functions of the government could not be maintained at the suggested funding levels.
Major General Hsin Yi-tsung (辛宜聰) from the Ministry of National Defense’s Comptroller Bureau said that a follow-up submarine construction program is a key part of the nation’s naval strategy and symbol of Taiwan’s resolve to defend itself.
The defense ministry urged lawmakers to pass the proposed submarine budget in its entirety to enable the navy to acquire eight boats as the legislature’s National Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee recommended, Hsin said.
Media reports that Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) had agreed to cut the submarine budget following discussions with KMT lawmakers were false, Hsin said, adding that his ministry has made no changes to its policy recommendations.
The navy is completing harbor acceptance tests for a prototype submarine as planned and would never authorize additional vessels to be built without absolute confidence in their safety, Navy Deputy Chief of Staff Rear Admiral He Hung-hsuan (賀紘璿) said.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chiu Tai-yuan (邱泰源) told reporters on the sidelines of a legislative session that the government needs funding for public relations and media promotion to protect public health.
The government has important health initiatives, including expanded eligibility for free checkups for chronic diseases and cancer screenings, Chiu said.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Digital Affairs said that cutting its operating budget to NT$1 would prevent officials from protecting Taiwan’s cybersecurity against state actors and scammers, or carrying out routine tasks to maintain Internet services.
NCC Secretary-General Huang Wen-che (黃文哲) said that the agency could not perform its regulatory functions or pay for office electricity bills if KMT lawmakers implement budget cuts as reported.
The Ministry of Agriculture in a statement said that the plan of the KMT and the TPP to cut its budget might lead to an unprecedented shutdown of its offices and services.
Such cuts would affect many things, including safety testing, occupational hazard insurance payouts for farmers, agricultural product information systems and benefits for elderly farmers, it said.
About 345,000 farmers are subscribed to the government-run farmers’ insurance system and 520,000 elderly farmers are entitled to benefits, it added.
A total lunar eclipse coinciding with the Lantern Festival on March 3 would be Taiwan’s most notable celestial event this year, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said, urging skywatchers not to miss it. There would be four eclipses worldwide this year — two solar eclipses and two lunar eclipses — the museum’s Web site says. Taiwan would be able to observe one of the lunar eclipses in its entirety on March 3. The eclipse would be visible as the moon rises at 5:50pm, already partly shaded by the Earth’s shadow, the museum said. It would peak at about 7:30pm, when the moon would
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