The Executive Yuan is considering issuing a request to the legislature to rethink the proposed budget cuts and to freeze 50 percent of subsidies to local governments, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) told a press conference today.
The legislature has proposed to slash 6.6 percent of the government’s total budget, which is equivalent to NT$207.6 billion (US$6.33 billion), six times the average budget cut from the past three years, Cho said citing media reports.
Cho compared the proposed budget cuts to a “suicidal attempt” and said the government could not do that when facing “indiscriminate attacks.”
Photo: Liao Chen-hui, Taipei Times
Cho would not directly say whether he would send the budget back to lawmakers for them to reconsider, saying only that he would seek "administrative remedies" allowed by the constitution.
The Executive Yuan has the right and obligation due to Article 3 of the Additional Articles of the Constitution to request the legislature to reconsider any bill it finds difficult to execute, he said.
Taiwan saw its economy grow by 4.27 percent last year, the second-highest in recent years, Cho said, adding that the government should enable people to live a better life, boost industrial development and strengthen the country’s sovereignty.
The NT$280.6-billion increase in budget planning is to be used in areas including public infrastructure, national defense, national health insurance, social housing, technology development projects, general subsidies and pension, Cho said, saying that the opposition ignored this despite being informed several times.
There is nothing wrong with increasing local government budget planning to serve people’s needs, Cho said, but it is regrettable that the opposition does not allow the central government to increase its budget.
To protect the Executive Yuan, Cho said he has asked Executive Yuan Secretary-General Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) and Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) to collate all the subsidized projects and budgets that were approved last year and to review them once again after the Lunar New Year.
As long as it does not involve social welfare policies that affect underprivileged groups, 50 percent of the subsidies to local governments would be frozen, he said.
In response, the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) today published a series of social media posts accusing the Democratic Progressive Party of spreading rumors and overseeing wasteful spending, and disputed government numbers about the budget.
"As the people's hard-earned taxpayers' money has fallen into the pockets of fat cats, the opposition party naturally cannot just sit back and watch, and it must strictly monitor the situation," it said.
Additional reporting by Reuters
‘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
RSS