The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday said that its proposed special defense budget bill of “NT$380 billion {US$12 billion] + N” is “politically binding” on its lawmakers, while the smaller Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) deliberates what stance to take on the issue.
The KMT issued a statement in response to criticisms by senior KMT member and media personality Jaw Shau-kong (趙少康) that the party had been dissuading members from supporting a higher budget of NT$800 billion.
The Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) on Wednesday reported that KMT Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) and caucus convener Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁) had conducted a call campaign to pressure its lawmakers to support the caucus version.
Photo: Taipei Times
In the statement, the KMT said that party headquarters having a say in bills sponsored by its caucus is “the norm.”
In the case of the special defense budget bill, it was drafted in consultation with the KMT’s think tank and passed during a caucus meeting on March 5, and therefore possesses “dual legitimacy,” the statement said.
As the bill represents the caucus’ collective decision, it is “politically binding” on its members, the KMT said, but did not say what consequences its lawmakers would face if they defied party headquarters.
The statement also rejected Jaw’s criticism that the caucus’ bill leaves no room for funding future US arms sales.
The “+N,” along with an incidental resolution sponsored by the caucus, addresses future arms sales, under which new budget proposals would be drafted based upon the receipt of letters of acceptance and directly sent to committee review, it said.
TPP UNDECIDED
TPP Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday said the party remained undecided over which bill to back.
“The TPP has been discussing the arms sales. We are humbly listening to the opinions of all sides and tracking the different numbers that have been proposed,” Huang told reporters in Taipei.
The Executive Yuan has proposed a budget of NT$1.25 trillion, while the TPP has proposed NT$400 billion.
The TPP’s eight legislative seats represent a critical minority and could determine which bill eventually clears the legislative floor.
The TPP respects and would not overly concern itself with the KMT’s “internal discussions,” Huang said.
He added that the best solution to the current deadlock over the defense budget is for the US government to approve a long-anticipated second arms sales package for Taiwan.
“If the US executive and legislative branches truly have such a strong consensus in support of Taiwan’s defense, they should promptly announce a second round of arms sales, rather than deliberately delaying it until after a Trump-Xi meeting,” Huang said.
He was referring to US President Donald Trump’s trip to China on May 14 to 15 to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平).
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