Taiwan cabinet finds a way around a NT$500 million budget freeze imposed by opposition lawmakers

Taiwan’s Executive Yuan found a technical route through a NT$500 million budget freeze imposed by the opposition-controlled legislature: it assigned the frozen money to legally required personnel expenses and used it to pay civil servants.

The freeze followed a dispute during the legislature’s review of the central government’s 2025 budget. Then-Executive Yuan secretary-general Kung Ming-hsin left a committee meeting without the convener’s approval. Opposition lawmakers from the Kuomintang and Taiwan People’s Party proposed freezing NT$500 million and demanded that Kung report to the committee and apologize before the money could be released.

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The Executive Yuan highly respects the legislature’s budget resolutions, and all expenditures were made in accordance with regulations and statutory procedures.

The Interior Affairs Committee later voted to keep the freeze in place. Yet the Executive Yuan’s final accounts showed that most of the money had nearly been spent. Opposition lawmakers reacted angrily and accused the cabinet of openly violating the law and undermining legislative oversight.

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Because the opposition parties did not specify the frozen spending category, and because there were shortfalls in operating expenses and engineering procurement, the frozen amount was allocated to personnel expenses to maintain basic operations.

Executive Yuan spokesperson Lee Hui-chih said the cabinet fully respected the legislature’s budget decisions and that every payment followed legal rules and procedures. Because the opposition had not specified which spending category should be frozen, she said, the cabinet assigned the amount to personnel expenses to cover shortfalls in operating costs and procurement.

Lee said civil servants’ salaries must be paid monthly under Taiwan’s Civil Servants Protection Act and Civil Servant Salary Act. The cabinet therefore used the Budget Act to authorize the necessary personnel spending. She also said the year’s final accounts had already been audited by the National Audit Office and that the cabinet had not evaded oversight. Online commenters largely praised the move, arguing that lawmakers should have clearly identified the frozen budget item.

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The salaries of civil servants are paid monthly under the Civil Servants Protection Act and the Civil Servant Salary Act, so the Executive Yuan handled the necessary personnel spending under the Budget Act.