The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), using their combined legislative majority, for the fourth time yesterday declined to schedule the government’s proposed special defense budget bill for discussion.
President William Lai (賴清德) last month announced the NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.67 billion) supplementary budget to underscore the nation’s determination to defend itself.
The Executive Yuan on Nov. 27 passed a draft act for the budget to fund major weapons purchases from next year to 2033.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
During a meeting of the Procedure Committee yesterday, nine members voted in favor of scheduling the budget bill discussion and nine voted against.
KMT Legislator Weng Hsiao-ling (翁曉玲), who chairs the committee, was the tiebreaking vote.
The KMT claims it wants to boost national defense, but in practice is unwilling to even allow the bill onto the agenda, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Yi-chuan (王義川) said, calling the block “laughable.”
KMT Legislator Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) accused Lai of stalling the process, as he proposed the special budget, but has not presented it to the legislature or answered lawmakers’ questions.
The KMT and the TPP are deliberately disregarding basic legislative procedures, DPP spokeswoman Han Ying (韓瑩) said in a statement.
Han accused the KMT of “taking orders from the Chinese government,” citing Weng on Monday as saying that she had contacted officials from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office during a trip to China and openly declared that she would block the special defense budget bill.
The KMT has refused to acknowledge public support for bolstering national defense and turned its back on Taiwanese, she said.
According to legislative procedures, bills and budget proposals must pass the Procedure Committee and be referred to committee before they can be explained and substantively debated, Han said.
However, the opposition “is not even allowing the bill to enter discussion,” she said. “This is opposition for the sake of opposition, with no sincerity whatsoever.”
The public does not support spending additional funds on weapons, Weng said.
The proposed defense spending is in excess of NT$1 trillion, she said, adding that it would be an unbearable burden on the nation’s finances.
Apart from the defense budget bill, several other amendments were withheld from the agenda for plenary sessions scheduled from Friday to Tuesday next week.
They include DPP proposals to amend the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) and the Act Governing Relations with Hong Kong and Macau (港澳關係條例) to regulate legislators’ trips to China, as well as the Cabinet’s proposed partial amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法).
Separately, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) on social media yesterday wrote that AIT Deputy Director Karin Lang (梁凱雯) met with KMT vice chairs Lee Chien-lung (李乾龍) and Chang Rong-kung (張榮恭).
During the meeting, Lang “reaffirmed the United States’ support for Taiwan’s enhanced defense capabilities, and the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” the post said.
Lee and Chang also “highlighted the value of dialogue” in addressing the challenges, it said.
Additional reporting by Lin Hsin-han
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The next minimum wage hike is expected to exceed NT$30,000, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday during an award ceremony honoring “model workers,” including migrant workers, at the Presidential Office ahead of Workers’ Day today. Lai said he wished to thank the awardees on behalf of the nation and extend his most sincere respect for their hard work, on which Taiwan’s prosperity has been built. Lai specifically thanked 10 migrant workers selected for the award, saying that although they left their home countries to further their own goals, their efforts have benefited Taiwan as well. The nation’s industrial sector and small businesses lay
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
RSS