Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus yesterday urged opposition parties not to obstruct military procurement and national defense budgets at the legislative Procedure Committee meeting today, given China’s latest exercise around Taiwan.
The central government’s fiscal budget proposal for next year has yet to be submitted for legislative committee review. The Executive Yuan’s proposed draft of “a special act for strengthening defense resilience and asymmetric warfare
capabilities” with a budget of NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.7 billion) over eight years has been blocked in the Legislative Yuan’s Procedure Committee for four weeks.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
The Executive Yuan’s failure to ready next year’s budget for military and police pay has upset opposition parties, which hold a majority in the legislature, leading to their unwillingness to assign the special budget to legislative committees for review.
DPP caucus chief executive Chung Chia-pin (鍾佳濱) yesterday said that investing in national defense is investing in
self-defense and peace.
Photo: CNA
“Only by raising the cost of aggression can we avoid war. Boycotting the defense budget in the Legislative Yuan and weakening Taiwan’s defense capabilities is like removing armor in front of China, allowing China to invade Taiwan at the lowest cost,” he said, expressing hope that the opposition would no longer obstruct the budget review at the Procedure Committee meeting.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus secretary-general Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) said the deadlock over the general budget has three keys, and they are in President William Lai’s (賴清德) hands.
“The Executive Yuan is requested to legally allocate the budget for military personnel salary increases, police and firefighter retirement benefits, as well as the suspension of pension cuts. The Legislative Yuan will then immediately review the general budget,” he said.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said the party’s position has been clear, which is that Lai fulfill his commitment and deliver a national report in the Legislative Yuan.
Additional reporting by Lin Hsin-han and Lin Che-yuan
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