The Legislative Yuan yesterday advanced a Taiwan People’s Party (TPP)-sponsored bill governing arms procurement packages approved by the US to a committee review.
The move came after the 113-seat legislative body, where TPP and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers hold a combined majority, voted down a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) motion to review the Cabinet’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.7 billion) special defense budget bill.
Contrasting the Cabinet’s bill, the TPP’s is narrow in scope, covering only five of the eight weapons systems approved for sale by the US Department of State last month and setting a spending cap of NT$400 billion.
Photo: CNA
The TPP’s proposal allocates NT$126.7 billion for 60 M109A7 self-propelled howitzers along with 4,080 precision rounds, and NT$127.6 billion for 82 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems.
It covers anti-armor loitering munition systems, capped at NT$34.7 billion, 70 Javelin anti-
armor missile launchers and 1,050 missiles, capped at NT$11.8 billion, and 24 TOW-2B anti-armor missile launchers and 1,545 missiles, capped at NT$11.1 billion.
Several preapproved US weapons sales present in the Cabinet’s special budget are omitted, including US$1.01 billion for tactical mission network software, US$96 million for AH-1W helicopter parts and US$91.4 million for Harpoon missile support.
Funding for partnerships with the local arms industry, procurement of 200,000 drones and the T-Dome multilayered air defense system to protect Taiwan against Chinese missiles and aircraft are absent.
Cabinet spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) following the passage of the TPP bill on the last day of the legislative session, said the KMT and TPP “politicizing” the issue could delay Taiwan’s weapons procurement plans and negatively affect its efforts to build combat readiness.
Lee accused the TPP of merely copying and pasting publicly available information released by the Ministry of National Defense (MND) and crudely chopping out parts of the Cabinet’s proposal.
The TPP bill “lacked strategic vision and force-building planning, deviated from established military procurement practices and ignored defense self-reliance,” she said.
The MND has repeatedly warned that the TPP’s bill covers only the procurement of certain equipment and fails to establish supporting measures, Lee said, which could render implementation by the ministry “impossible.”
The legislature has repeatedly blocked a review of the Cabinet’s special defense budget since President William Lai (賴清德) announced it in November last year, with the KMT and TPP demanding that Lai first brief lawmakers and take questions about the proposal — a request that the DPP has said is unconstitutional
While urging Lai to appear before the Legislative Yuan to report on the planned US arms purchases, KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi said yesterday his caucus is working with KMT headquarters on the details of the proposed legislative revisions.
The KMT caucus would put forward its own version of the amendments, he said.
Cooperation with the TPP caucus remains important and the KMT caucus’ discussions with the TPP caucus would continue, he said.
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
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
RSS