The Ministry of National Defense could not have expedited a NT$2.4 billion (US$79.7 million at the current exchange rate) payment to Ching Fu Shipbuilding Co had it not received instructions from top management at the Presidential Office, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus said yesterday, urging the Presidential Office to name the official who ordered the ministry to do so.
The ministry on Thursday said in a statement that the payment was made ahead of schedule due to “human error” and yesterday put on hold its plan to publish a list of personnel to be punished over the payment, saying that further investigation was needed.
It is regrettable that the ministry insists that the disbursement of the NT$2.4 billion followed due budgeting procedure and was entirely legal, KMT caucus deputy secretary-general Lee Yen-hsiu (李彥秀) said, citing the ministry’s Thursday statement and accusing it of shirking its responsibility.
Photo: CNA
The funds were disbursed on Dec. 16 last year — just 10 days after Ching Fu again asked the ministry for the payment, which was quick and suggests that the office’s top management was involved in the disbursement of the funds, she said.
Considering the sheer size of the payment and that it was composed of budgets earmarked for other military services, it was unlikely that the ministry could have paid the shipbuilder without receiving instructions from upper management, Lee said.
The ministry should not help the office tell lies by making its financial and accounting personnel the office’s scapegoats, she said, alleging the payment breached the Budget Act (預算法) in several ways.
The ministry only earmarked NT$44 million for the project to locally build navy minesweepers for the previous fiscal year, which had been depleted before the payment was made, she said.
The ministry paid Ching Fu for its phase three work of separating the hull casting from the mold, which was not only illegal, but unnecessary, as their contract states that payment was due in March this year, Lee said.
According to Article 63 of the act, the ministry could only appropriate 20 percent, or NT$8.8 million, of the NT$44 million budget from other sources it has jurisdiction over if the need arose, she said.
She blasted Minister of National Defense Feng Shih-kuan (馮世寬) for saying in his briefing to the legislature’s Foreign and National Defense Committee in March that the ministry “was preparing the phase-three payment.”
The ministry last month admitted that the payment had been made in December, she said.
Feng seems to think “lawmakers are kindergarteners or retards,” she said.
KMT Legislator Lu Yu-ling (呂玉玲) asked the ministry whether it held any meetings with Presidential Office officials before expediting the payment and, if so, whether it took minutes, as she could not find related documents via the legislature’s Document Request Committee.
Premier William Lai (賴清德), who said he would “get to the bottom” of the scandal, should not let his words become “hot air,” while President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) should clarify her office’s role in the case, she said.
The ministry later yesterday reiterated that it did not misappropriate budgets nor receive any pressure from the Presidential Office or any other top official.
Additional reporting by CNA
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as