Yi Kang chairman Yang Chien-kang (楊建綱), a long-time financial backer of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), during a gathering at party headquarters on Friday urged KMT lawmakers to stand firm on the party line regarding arms procurement.
A source who attended the event quoted Yang as saying that the administration’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.58 billion) special military procurement budget would incur maintenance costs of between NT$2.5 trillion and NT$3 trillion, with average annual maintenance costs of NT$300 billion.
On top of the defense spending for this year, which is expected to reach NT$949.5 billion, the total defense budget would reach NT$1.4 trillion, or half of the annual budget, he said, asking what that would leave for economic development or bettering public welfare.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
The procurement budget is also not in compliance with due process, Yang was quoted as saying.
The foundations of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co and its supply chains were established under former president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) of the KMT, but the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is casting a pall over Hsinchu Science Park and allowing the company’s Arizona park to claim the glory, he said.
In response to Yang suggesting that the KMT “toughen up,” party caucus secretary-general Lo Chi-chiang (羅智強) said Yang was not saying the KMT should be tough on the US, but that the party should be firmer in overseeing the government, defending the public’s budget, and safeguarding Taiwan and its interests.
KMT Culture and Communications Committee head Wu Tsung-hsien (吳宗憲) said Yang does not aim to block military procurement, but to ensure that the nation’s development is more balanced, as a prosperous tourism industry, and medical and industrial sectors would also make the country safer.
DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) said Yang’s message served only to put out erroneous information on national defense and stir up political strife, as is Beijing’s intent.
Taiwan’s national defense budget is patterned after the NATO standard, equal to 3 percent of the nation’s GDP, not half of the national budget, Wu said.
Taiwan National Security Institute Deputy Secretary-General Ho Cheng-hui (何澄輝) said Yang shifting from behind the scenes to the forefront and “lecturing” KMT lawmakers constitutes substantive interference in the party’s decisionmaking and operations.
While there is no evidence of Yang receiving instructions from the Chinese Communist Party, if he “knowingly and actively” panders to Beijing’s political ambitions, he would, under the standards of Australia and other countries, be considered a “foreign agent,” he said.
Yang, 80, is a retired soldier and, while not an official KMT member, has been an avid supporter of the party.
He was also rumored to be KMT Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) backer during last year’s chairperson election.
Additional reporting by Chen Cheng-yu
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