The opposition and ruling parties will confront each other over arms procurement today, as lawmakers have until Friday to make progress on the deal before the current legislative session ends.
A legislative showdown on the arms budget may be inevitable if both pan-blue and pan-green camps fail to reach a consensus over the issue before the legislature breaks for its winter recess.
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) is scheduled to call another round of cross-party negotiations today to discuss this year's government budget.
Today also marks the beginning of the second phase of cross-party talks over the government budget, where party negotiators will bargain over items that they could not agree on during the first phase of negotiations. This includes the long-delayed arms procurement budget.
The legislature's Committee of National Defense has proposed to erase NT$10.9 billion (US$338 million) of this year's regular budget that has been earmarked for the purchase of Patriot missile batteries.
Opposition lawmakers have also cut a proposed NT$272.62 million outlay prepared for the arms procurement package from the Ministry of National Defense's budget plan for this year, saying it is not necessary since the purchase of the package is not yet confirmed.
The original NT$480 billion special arms procurement bill sought to purchase three PAC-3 Patriot anti-missile batteries, 12 P-3C maritime-patrol aircraft and eight diesel-electric submarines from the US.
At the request of opposition parties, the Executive Yuan removed a NT$133 billion outlay that was originally earmarked for Patriot batteries over the next 15 years from the proposal, and included them in the defense ministry's annual budget instead, lowering the total amount of the special budget from NT$480 billion to around NT$350 million.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday that his caucus is not averse to putting the matter to a vote.
"The pan-blue camp may eventually get its wish, but we will also get to make clear our stance on the matter," Lai said.
Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) caucus whip Mark Ho (何敏豪) threw his backing behind Lai, saying that his caucus' support for the arms procurement package remains unchanged.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Pan Wei-kang (潘維剛) yesterday called on all parties to respect the proposals made by the defense committee. As for whether the matter will lead to a showdown, Pan said that it would hinge on today's cross-party talks.
People First Party (PFP) caucus whip Hwang Yih-jiau (黃義交) reiterated that his caucus' position on the matter is clear. They will not support the plan unless the three items are paid for in the regular budget.
In addition to the arms budget, the legislative caucuses each have different bills and laws they would like to take care of before the session ends.
High on the DPP's agenda is a flood control bill, a bill pertaining to the structure of a labor pension fund supervisory board, amendments to the Public Officials Election and Recall Law (公職人員選舉罷免法), revisions to the Organic Law of the Executive Yuan (行政院組織法) and other revisions to government restructuring bills.
The TSU caucus said that they hope to see the party asset bill pass into law this legislative session so that the administration can legally tackle the KMT's dubiously gained party assets.
Other bills at the top of the TSU's agenda include a national loyalty bill and a technology protection bill.
The KMT has vowed to overhaul the Statute Governing the Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (兩岸人民關係條例) in a bid to attach a "direct transportation" clause to the legislation and strip the Mainland Affairs Council of part of its power.
Other priority bills for the KMT include amendments to the Public Officials Election and Recall Law, revisions to the Law Governing Legislators' Exercise of Power (立法院職權行使法) and modifications to the March 19 Shooting Truth Investigation Special Committee Statute (三一九槍擊事件真相調查特別委員會條例).
The PFP said that they hope to see amendments to the Law Governing Electronic Surveillance (通信監察法) pass this legislative session.
Other bills high on its agenda include the confirmation of the National Communications Committee (NCC) members and amendments to the Public Officials Election and Recall Law.
also see story:
Pan-blues try to sink sub proposal
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
RSS