The Control Yuan today filed a petition at the Constitutional Court for a constitutional interpretation of budget cuts passed by the Legislative Yuan.
Yang Chang-hsien (楊昌憲), director of the Control Yuan's Department of Supervisory Investigation, accompanied by his attorney, Wang Shou-yen (王首雁), presented the petition, but declined to speak to the media.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
In a news release issued on Thursday last week, the Control Yuan said that the Legislative Yuan's "substantial" 96 percent cut to its operational expenses left the nation's highest supervisory body just NT$10 million (US$302,821) for the year.
The budget cuts constitute a breach of the principle of separation of powers and "severely endanger" the Control Yuan's ability to carry out its essential monitoring duties, it said.
The Control Yuan said that, despite making adjustments, the funding cuts — which it described as "exceeding reasonable limits" — have already impacted its operations.
The supervisory body, one of five main branches of Taiwan's constitutional government system, is thus seeking a ruling from the court to uphold constitutional principles and ensure its capacity to monitor government actions is preserved, it said.
The Control Yuan's move came after President William Lai (賴清德) promulgated this year's central government budget on Friday in accordance with procedural precedent.
The government budget included cuts imposed by the Legislative Yuan following a rejection of the Executive Yuan's motion to reconsider the budget.
The Control Yuan's budget stands at about NT$1.09 billion, including more than NT$800 million for personnel costs.
The Control Yuan had originally budgeted NT$240 million for operational expenses this year, but the Legislative Yuan slashed that amount by NT$230 million, it said.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) today said that if South Korea does not reply appropriately to its request to correct Taiwan’s name on its e-Arrival card system before March 31, it would take corresponding measures to alter how South Korea is labeled on the online Taiwan Arrival Card system. South Korea’s e-Arrival card system lists Taiwan as “China (Taiwan)” in the “point of departure” and “next destination” fields. The ministry said that it changed the nationality for South Koreans on Taiwan’s Alien Resident Certificates from “Korea” to “South Korea” on March 1, in a gesture of goodwill and based on the
Taiwanese officials were shown the first of 66 F-16V fighter jets purchased by Taiwan from the United States, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, adding the aircraft has completed an initial flight test and is expected to be delivered later this year. A delegation led by Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) visited Lockheed Martin’s F-16 C/D Block 70 (also known as F-16V) assembly line in South Carolina on March 16 to view the aircraft. The jet will undergo a final acceptance flight in the US before being delivered to Taiwan, the
The New Taipei Metro's Sanyin Line and the eastern extension of the Taipei Metro's Tamsui-Xinyi Line (Red Line) are scheduled to begin operations in June, the National Development Council said today. The Red Line, which terminates at Xiangshan Station, would be connected by the 1.4km extension to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, while the Sanyin Line would link New Taipei City's Tucheng and Yingge stations via Sanxia District (三峽). The council gave the updates at a council meeting reviewing progress on public construction projects for this year. Taiwan's annual public infrastructure budget would remain at NT$800 billion (US$25.08 billion), with NT$97.3