The central government's budget proposal for fiscal 2001 failed to get onto the legislative agenda yesterday amid opposition from KMT and New Party lawmakers.
The move has, in effect, stalled the budget review process. Under the original plan agreed to by lawmakers, the legislature was to start reviewing the budget proposal after Premier Tang Fei (
When the review will finally get underway will now be the subject of inter-party negotiations.
Members of the KMT caucus in the legislature said the review would not proceed until the Executive Yuan reduced projected expenditures by at least NT$600 billion.
The comments of certain opposition legislators were suggestive of a backlash against the remarks of certain Cabinet members, especially Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (
"Since the new government claims to practice thrift, how come it has proposed a budget outlining NT$95 billion more in expenditure than that of the current fiscal year?," asked KMT Legislator Chen Ching-pao (陳清寶).
The other two Cabinet members named by the KMT legislators included Research, Development and Evaluation Commission Chairman Lin Chia-cheng (
James Chen (
"Since they have said so, we believe they must be able to do it," Chen said. "We hope their figures will be reflected in the budget proposal."
In addition, the KMT caucus demanded that the three officials offer an explanation to the caucus for their remarks.
The New Party caucus, on the other hand, decided to block the budget proposal to register its protest against the new administration for "belittling" the party by shutting it out of the cross-party round-table meeting recently called by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
"Since the new government hasn't invited us to the round-table meeting, why should we review its budget proposal?" said Lai Shyh-bao (
DPP caucus convener Hsu Tain-tsair (
The DPP caucus agreed that the three Cabinet members involved should report to the KMT legislators to help clear up their misgivings.
Vice Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (
On the KMT's demand to cut proposed government spending, Chang said the Executive Yuan had no authority to revise its budget proposal now that it had been submitted to the legislature.
"There is still room for discussion as to how legislators will make budget cuts," Chang said.
Meanwhile, Tang delivered his six-month policy address to the legislature yesterday, the first day of the new legislative session.
Tang said the government was evaluating plans to lift the ban on direct cross-strait transport, business and mail links to improve cross-strait relations.
He also urged China to respond to Taiwan's goodwill and resume cross-strait dialogue in an effort to normalize ties between the two sides.
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
GEOPOLITICAL CONCERNS: Foreign companies such as Nissan, Volkswagen and Konica Minolta have pulled back their operations in China this year Foreign companies pulled more money from China last quarter, a sign that some investors are still pessimistic even as Beijing rolls out stimulus measures aimed at stabilizing growth. China’s direct investment liabilities in its balance of payments dropped US$8.1 billion in the third quarter, data released by the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed on Friday. The gauge, which measures foreign direct investment (FDI) in China, was down almost US$13 billion for the first nine months of the year. Foreign investment into China has slumped in the past three years after hitting a record in 2021, a casualty of geopolitical tensions,
‘SOMETHING SPECIAL’: Donald Trump vowed to reward his supporters, while President William Lai said he was confident the Taiwan-US partnership would continue Donald Trump was elected the 47th president of the US early yesterday morning, an extraordinary comeback for a former president who was convicted of felony charges and survived two assassination attempts. With a win in Wisconsin, Trump cleared the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the presidency. As of press time last night, The Associated Press had Trump on 277 electoral college votes to 224 for US Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s nominee, with Alaska, Arizona, Maine, Michigan and Nevada yet to finalize results. He had 71,289,216 votes nationwide, or 51 percent, while Harris had 66,360,324 (47.5 percent). “We’ve been through so
RSS