Cabinet to restore NT$1.25tn proposal

The Executive Yuan is to restore its proposed NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.01 billion) special defense budget, which was cut by the opposition, through next year’s central government budget and this year’s supplementary budget, a source said yesterday. The legislature on Friday approved the government’s annual budget for this year after a record delay and shortly before it is expected to receive next year’s spending proposal for review. The Executive Yuan is expected to approve next year’s central government budget on Thursday and simultaneously pass a record supplementary budget of about NT$200 billion for this year, the source said. Photo: An Rong Xu, Bloomberg The supplementary budget would include defense spending, they said. The opposition-controlled legislature in May passed the third reading of a special defense budget of NT$780 billion. The bill fell short of the NT$1.25 trillion requested by the Cabinet. The source said that President William Lai (賴清德) and Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) have repeatedly called for the funding proposed by the Cabinet to be provided via the “special bill, supplementary budget and annual budget,” with the full amount to be restored. After deducting the NT$780 billion approved by the legislature and the NT$210 billion proposed in the Executive Yuan’s special act on procurement of indigenous unmanned vehicles for national defense, NT$260 billion remains, the source said. Part of the remainder would be allocated through annual budgets over several years, while the rest would be from supplementary budgets, they said, adding that as a result, funding has been earmarked in next year’s central government budget and this year’s supplementary budget. The Chiang Kung (強弓, “Strong Bow”) missile defense system, which has drawn public attention, is also included, ensuring that Lai’s proposed “T-Dome” defense initiative would proceed as planned, the source said. Meanwhile, in response to the war in the Middle East, the Ministry of Economic Affairs is expected to seek subsidies for gasoline and diesel, while the Ministry of Transportation and Communications would seek subsidies for domestic airlines, intercity bus operators and taxis, the source said. The Ministry of Agriculture is also expected to seek subsidies for fertilizer, they said, adding that the additional funding is estimated to exceed NT$100 billion. Increases in professional and supervisory allowances for military personnel, civil servants and public-sector teachers that took effect last month are expected to require an additional NT$10.7 billion, they said. Increased allowances for elderly farmers, the National Pension program and six major social welfare subsidies, which are to be retroactively applied from last month, require NT$21.5 billion, the source said. Other supplementary budget items include NT$700 million for measures to stabilize hog supplies amid an African swine fever outbreak, NT$300 million for preparatory work for a proposed universal allowance for children from birth through age 18, NT$7 billion for post-disaster reconstruction work following the Mataian River (馬太鞍溪) barrier lake breach in Hualien County, and about NT$200 million in additional subsidies for administrative expenses for legislators’ aides and village wardens, they said. Other government agencies are also expected to submit requests for supplementary funding based on the final version of the central government’s budget approved by the legislature, they added. CHINESE THREAT: The military also simulated repelling an attack on Penghu and transporting military vehicles from Hualien to Yilan to reinforce defenses in the north The government yesterday slowed mobile Internet coverage for a large swathe of the central part of Taiwan proper for the first time during annual war games, simulating communication disruption in the event of a Chinese attack or natural disaster. Taiwan, which has long lived with the threat of a Chinese invasion, holds air raid drills along with its war games every year, clearing people from the streets for 30 minutes. During the Internet “throttling” drill, centered on Taichung, only basic mobile phone services worked, although other functions, including ATMs, traffic signals, landlines and fixed-line Internet services, were not affected. Air raid sirens rang ‘IRONIC’: The Nagasaki memorial calls for the abolition of nuclear weapons and peace, but it sided with China, which has been threatening peace in the Strait, an official said Taipei yesterday protested the seating arrangement at the Nagasaki atomic bombing memorial ceremony, saying that the Nagasaki City Government’s decision to place its representative outside the diplomatic delegation area slighted Taiwan’s national status and played into Beijing’s efforts to suppress the nation. Representative to Japan Lee Yi-yang (李逸洋) said he declined to attend the event, because the seat placement deliberately diminished Taiwan’s status and dignity, with Chen Ming-chun (陳銘俊), head of the Fukuoka Branch of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Osaka, attending in his place. Taiwan is known worldwide for its commitment to peace and democracy, Lee said, adding that The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and other opposition politicians are “taking Taiwan’s democracy hostage” for selfish gain, The Economist said in a column published online on Tuesday. “Taiwan’s freedoms should be a strength, raising the costs to China of a takeover. Shamefully, they are being betrayed from within,” the British news magazine said. While a lot of countries have toxic politicians, Taiwan’s stand out as particularly irresponsible, and “the blame is not evenly distributed,” it said. Although President William Lai (賴清德) is stubborn and, unlike his predecessor, does not consult KMT moderates, the opposition has triggered a “rolling constitutional crisis,” CHINESE INFLUENCE? The TPP denied any knowledge that the Chinese immigrant had been reporting to Beijing or that she had participated in the party’s decisionmaking The New Taipei District Court yesterday sentenced Chinese immigrant Xu Chunying (徐春鶯) to seven years in prison for fraud, helping Chinese nationals illegally enter Taiwan and acting at Beijing’s direction to influence Taiwanese politics. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said it found that Xu and Cross-Strait Marriage Harmony Promotion Association chairman Chung Chin-ming (鍾錦明) had maintained long-term contact with Yang Wentao (楊文濤), director of the Cross-Strait Marriage and Family Service Center, and Sun Xian (孫憲), vice director of the Shanghai China Council for the Promotion of Peaceful National Reunification. Prosecutors accused Xu and Chung of accepting instructions to campaign for certain