A legislative committee yesterday froze NT$250,000 of the Ministry of Education’s (MOE) travel budget for China over questions about its use, while the Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said the ministry is considering allowing Chinese students living in third regions to study in Taiwan.
At a meeting of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee to review the ministry’s budget, the committee said the funds would be released only after the ministry submits a written report.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Ting-wei (羅廷瑋) said that as the ministry’s proposal for the use of NT$755,000 allocated for travel expenses related to China lacked detailed explanations, it should be cut or frozen.
Photo: CNA
If cross-strait relations improve enough to enable visits, the funds could be used, but the budget proposal was insufficiently detailed, KMT Legislator Wan Mei-ling (萬美玲) added.
KMT Legislator Ko Chih-en (柯志恩) said that if the ministry had not used such funds in the past few years, that part of the budget should be frozen rather than be cut entirely.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) agreed, saying that to maintain goodwill and allow for cross-strait exchanges, the expenses should be frozen rather than eliminated.
Freezing the funds could provide the ministry flexibility in promoting related initiatives, DPP Legislator Chen Pei-yu (陳培瑜) said.
Relations and negotiations with counterparts vary depending on the situation and are sometimes uncertain, the ministry said, asking legislators to allow it to keep the funding to maintain flexibility.
The ministry is already considering measures to allow Chinese students from third regions to study in Taiwan, Cheng said.
The budget also includes funding to recruit students from Hong Kong and Macau, Deputy Minister of Education Lin Teng-chiao (林騰蛟) said.
Instead of removing the full amount, NT$250,000 could be frozen, he said, a proposal the committee approved.
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