Taipei: The Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) legislative caucus denied Wednesday that it had obstructed the Cabinet’s national defense budget and said it will treat arms procurement legislation as its “most, most, most, most priority bill” this session, according to caucus whip Chen Ching-lung.
According to Focus Taiwan, Chen stated that the caucus will support sending the Cabinet’s special defense budget to committee for joint review in the Legislative Yuan. This move aims to advance the review of both its own proposal and the government’s version for the sake of Taiwan’s national defense security.
President Lai Ching-te mentioned on the same day that the Cabinet-approved special defense bill has not yet been sent to committee for review and has “been obstructed for two months.” Speaking at a press conference held by the Office of the President, Lai expressed hope that the Legislative Yuan can “turn a new page” when the new session begins and “complete the review of the national defense special bill as soon as possible.”
Chen reiterated at a TPP-organized press event that the TPP supports “defense autonomy, increasing Taiwan’s defensive combat capability, and enhancing asymmetric warfare capability.” He emphasized that the TPP has not blocked the national defense budget, adding that the party only requests that there be “no blank authorization” and that review can begin “as soon as the session opens.”
In the TPP’s version of the national defense special bill, which was referred to committee for review on January 30, each weapon item announced for sale to Taiwan by the United States is clearly budgeted. The bill also allocates NT$88.1 billion (US$2.8 billion) to allow for flexible adjustments should procurement needs increase. Chen urged the Ministry of National Defense to “quickly prepare a special report” to avoid any further delay in arms procurement.
When asked whether the TPP had reached an agreement with the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) to allow the Executive Yuan draft to advance, Chen confirmed that the caucus has its own version and also agrees to bring in the Executive Yuan draft for joint review.
Responding to reports regarding the KMT potentially introducing two versions of the national defense special bill with budgets of NT$800 billion and NT$900 billion, Chen said that the KMT version has “basically” not yet been proposed, and therefore declined to comment on it.
TPP deputy caucus whip Wang An-hsiang noted that the version proposed by the TPP in December carried only a tentative budget figure, adding that “if there are new items or amounts, we are willing to adjust again.” He emphasized that the bill “is currently only a draft, and there is still much room for discussion.”