With the legislature due to open on Sept. 13, the Democratic Progres-sive Party (DPP) legislative caucus and the Executive Yuan reached a consensus yesterday to make the arms-procurement budget as well as 17 other bills priority bills for the next session.
"All 18 priority bills are important, urgent and meet the public's expectations," DPP caucus whip William Lai (
The 18 bills include the flood-control bill, draft amendments to the Organic Law of the Executive Yuan (
The Executive Yuan also sent copies of next year's policy plan and annual budget to the legislature yesterday.
The executive branch is planning to continue the six-year "challenge 2008" national development plan and the new 10 major construction projects, which are aimed at building the country into a democratic and prosperous society and making the nation the most competitive in Asia.
To that end, the government will focus on six main areas, including resuming cross-strait dialogue, popularizing civil diplomacy and consolidating national peace and security; and continuing its restructuring efforts to establish a clean and efficient government.
The Executive Yuan estimated next year's annual revenues will be NT$1.4 trillion, while annual expenditures will be NT$1.5 trillion.
The projected expenditures represents a 0.5 percent decrease compared with this year, while the annual income is 5.3 percent more than this year.
Of the projected expenditure, NT$323 billion, or 20.2 percent of the total, is earmarked for educational, cultural and scientific purposes. Social welfare spending accounts for 18.5 percent, or NT$296 billion, while national defense expenditures amount to 15.9 percent, or NT$253 billion -- a 1.6 percent increase over this year's spending.
In other news, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) caucuses voiced support yesterday for a proposed minimum tax scheme, scheduled to be approved by the Cabinet today.
KMT Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (
TSU caucus whip David Huang (
The Executive Yuan and DPP caucus on Monday agreed on the terms for a minimum tax scheme: a 10 percent tax on industries and 20 percent tax on individuals.
Several Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials including Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) are to be summoned for questioning and then transferred to prosecutors for holding an illegal assembly in Taipei last night, the Taipei Police said today. Chu and two others hosted an illegal assembly and are to be requested to explain their actions, the Taipei City Police Department's Zhongzheng (中正) First Precinct said, referring to a protest held after Huang Lu Chin-ju (黃呂錦茹), KMT Taipei's chapter director, and several other KMT staffers were questioned for alleged signature forgery in recall petitions against Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators. Taipei prosecutors had filed
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
NEW WORLD: Taiwan is pursuing innovative approaches to international relations through economics, trade and values-based diplomacy, the foreign minister said Taiwan would implement a “three-chain strategy” that promotes democratic values in response to US tariffs, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said. Taiwan would aim to create a “global democratic value chain,” seek to capitalize on its position within the first island chain and promote a “non-red supply chain,” Lin was quoted as saying in the ministry’s written report to the Legislative Yuan submitted ahead of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee meeting slated for today. The Ministry would also uphold a spirit of mutual beneficial collaboration, maintaining close communication and consultations with Washington to show that Taiwan-US cooperation