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🇹🇼 Taiwan /Elections & Politics

Opposition Threatens to Cut NT$233.8 Billion in CPC Funding, DPP Says Parliament Has Descended Into Chaos

From Liberty Times · () Chinese

Translated from Chinese and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources New plan
  • Taiwan’s Cabinet approved a supplementary budget exceeding NT$606.7 billion, including NT$233.8 billion to recapitalize CPC Corporation.
  • The opposition accused the government of slipping the funding into the supplementary budget and threatened to delete it in full.
  • DPP lawmaker Chuang Jui-hsiung said CPC absorbed losses after the government froze or slowed fuel-price increases to limit inflation during international conflicts.

Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party accused the opposition of turning parliament into chaos after lawmakers threatened to delete NT$233.8 billion earmarked to recapitalize state oil company CPC Corporation.

The Cabinet approved a supplementary budget for the 115th fiscal year with total spending of more than NT$606.7 billion. CPC’s recapitalization accounts for NT$233.8 billion of that amount. Opposition lawmakers say the government is using the measure to push through funding that should have been included in the regular central government budget.

Kuomintang deputy caucus secretary-general Hsu Yu-chen argued that CPC’s losses were neither new nor the result of an unforeseen emergency. The government had enough time to assess the company’s financial gap, she said, but instead inserted the money with only three months left in the year, when lawmakers were already handling the regular budget, the supplementary budget and major bills.

If they say it is unreasonable, they should examine it item by item. But saying it will all be deleted before it reaches the Legislative Yuan makes the legislature look like it has descended into chaos.

· Chuang Jui-hsiungThe DPP caucus secretary-general called for detailed legislative review of CPC’s proposed recapitalization.

DPP caucus secretary-general Chuang Jui-hsiung defended the allocation by pointing to the economic pressure created by the Russia-Ukraine war and fighting in the Middle East. The government froze or slowed fuel-price increases to prevent inflation and higher consumer prices, leaving CPC to absorb the losses. He said CPC and Taiwan Power Company had taken on NT$180.9 billion in costs under a broader policy to stabilize prices.

Chuang also said the recapitalization would support projects including the Taichung Phase Three expansion and the Intercontinental Receiving Station, while warning that CPC’s ability to repay debt would otherwise become more difficult. He urged lawmakers to examine the budget item by item, rather than announce its complete deletion before it reached the legislature.

CPC’s losses did not begin today, nor were they caused by a sudden and unforeseeable emergency.

· Hsu Yu-chenThe KMT lawmaker criticized the timing and structure of the proposed funding.
About this summary

Originally published by Liberty Times in Chinese. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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