Taiwan’s Executive Yuan says spending from frozen funds complied with the law

Taiwan’s Executive Yuan is facing questions over how it spent NT$500 million that the Legislative Yuan had frozen, but the government says every payment followed legal requirements and established procedures.

Executive Yuan spokesperson Lee Hui-chih said the frozen amount had not been assigned to a specific budget category. The government therefore allocated it to personnel expenses, which must be paid under the law, allowing it to cover necessary staffing costs.

The controversy followed media reports that the Executive Yuan’s 2025 budget totaled NT$1.5 billion, with NT$500 million frozen and not formally unfrozen. Yet its final accounts recorded NT$1.4 billion in realized spending. Kuomintang legislator Hsu Yu-chen accused the Executive Yuan of deciding on its own that the frozen funds counted as personnel expenses that could not be frozen, effectively creating its own justification for releasing the money.

Lee said other freezes involving operating expenses had been lifted with the legislature’s approval, but gaps remained in operating costs and construction procurement. She said assigning the unspecified freeze to personnel expenses allowed the Executive Yuan to maintain basic operations and reduce the impact on outside contractors. Salaries and staff benefits, she added, are monthly payments required under Taiwan’s Civil Service Protection Act and Civil Service Salary Act. The 2025 final accounts have since undergone review by the Audit Office, she said, with no attempt to avoid oversight.