Opposition parties yesterday again blocked a special budget aimed at bolstering the nation’s overall defense posture and the general budget for this year because of what they said was the government’s failure to prepare a budget in accordance with the law.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus had placed a motion on the agenda for yesterday’s legislative session that would have sent the budget proposals to committee for review, but it was voted down 59-50 by lawmakers from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP).
The vote came after Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) warned that failure to pass the NT$3.03 trillion (US$95.9 billion) general budget could keep the central government from accessing NT$299.2 billion in funds, including for defense and local government allocations.
Photo: CNA
Those funds would be earmarked for new initiatives (NT$101.7 billion), expenses and continuing programs (NT$180.5 billion), the First and Second Reserve Funds, and the Disaster Reserve Fund (NT$17 billion).
The government would still be able to draw on other funds for such payments as civil servant salaries and statutory social welfare payments under a “provisional budget” mechanism based on the previous year’s approved budget.
KMT caucus secretary-general Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) said after the vote that his caucus hopes President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration would first compile the budget in accordance with the law.
Lo urged the Lai administration to fully allocate funds for military pay raises as well as for pension increases for retired police officers and firefighters, in line with bills passed by the opposition parties last year.
The Cabinet has declined to earmark funds for the raises and has sought constitutional interpretations of the bills, which are still pending.
Lawmakers from the two opposition parties also blocked a proposed NT$1.25 trillion special defense budget unveiled by Lai on Nov. 26 last year. It was the sixth time opposition lawmakers had voted against the special budget.
The opposition has demanded that Lai brief the legislature on the special budget and respond to lawmakers’ questions before any review of the spending plan begins.
The TPP also criticized the proposal, saying that amid delays in the delivery of US-ordered weapons, it is unreasonable to expect opposition backing for what it described as an “opaque” defense spending plan that does not clearly specify funded items.
The Executive Yuan yesterday criticized the latest blocking as “a waste of precious time” for national defense and an unnecessary drain on the public’s time, saying it hinders the government’s ability to care for the public, develop local infrastructure and advance artificial intelligence technology.
Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) called on all affected local governments nationwide to urge their district legislators to set aside unnecessary political calculations, and conduct substantive reviews of the general budget and the special national defense budget so that local development could be more balanced, national defense capabilities further strengthened and overall national progress advanced.
Additional reporting by Chung Li-hua
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
‘SAME OLD TRICK’: Even if Beijing resumes individual travel to Taiwan, it would only benefit Chinese tourism companies, the Economic Democracy Union convener said China’s 10 new “incentives” are “sugar-coated poison,” an official said yesterday, adding that Taiwanese businesses see them clearly for what they are, but that Beijing would inevitably find some local collaborators to try to drums up support. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, made the remark ahead of a news conference the General Chamber of Commerce is to hold today. The event, titled “Industry Perspectives on China’s Recent Pro-Taiwan Policies,” is expected to include representatives from industry associations — such as those in travel, hotels, food and agriculture — to request the government cooperate with China’s new measures, people familiar with
RSS