The opposition parties yesterday again blocked the Cabinet’s version of the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) and the NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.7 billion) special defense budget during a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Procedure Committee.
The opposition parties also passed the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) proposal to invite President William Lai (賴清德) to the legislature for a question-and-answer session on national security matters and defense costs.
Lai on Monday night issued a video saying that he was willing to do so, provided that the procedures involved in such an event are in line with Paragraph 3, Article 4 of the Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China (中華民國憲法增修條文) and related Constitutional Court rulings.
yesterday.Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
The legislature’s version of the act undermined the separation of powers, the nation’s finances and harmed people’s rights, he said.
The legislature’s consecutive abuse of legislative power is undermining Taiwan’s democracy, he said, adding that “at such a time, the president must uphold the nation’s constitutional system, protect the country and its people.”
Separately, the legislature’s Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee convener, KMT Legislator Wen Hsiao-ling (翁曉玲), has put an item on today’s agenda.
The committee would hold a session asking officials, including the secretaries-general of the Presidential Office, the Executive Yuan, the Judicial Yuan and the Ministry of Justice, to deliver a report on whether the president and the premier would be legally responsible if they did not announce laws and countersign legislation.
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
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,
City buses in Taipei and New Taipei City, as well as the Taipei MRT, would on Saturday begin accepting QR code payments from five electronic payment providers, the Taipei Department of Transportation said yesterday. The new option would allow passengers to use the “transportation QR code” feature from EasyWallet, iPass Money, iCash Pay, Jkopay or PXPay Plus. Passengers should open their preferred electronic payment app, select the “transportation code” — not the regular payment code — unlock it, and scan the code at ticket readers or gates, General Planning Division Director-General Liu Kuo-chu (劉國著) said. People should move through the
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