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Taiwan's KMT Criticizes Defense Budget, Drone Funding Plan

From Liberty Times · () Chinese

Translated from Chinese, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources New plan
  • Taiwan's Legislative Yuan is reviewing the upcoming fiscal year's budget, with the Ministry of National Defense's budget expected to exceed NT$1.1 trillion.
  • The Kuomintang (KMT) party criticizes the government's plan to fund drone procurement through special budget loans, arguing it undermines fiscal discipline.
  • KMT spokesperson Chen Yi-hsin questions why the drone budget cannot be integrated into the regular annual budget, suggesting it is a way to circumvent oversight and worsen public finances.

Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense is set to see its budget surpass NT$1.1 trillion in the upcoming fiscal year, a figure that has drawn sharp criticism from the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party. The KMT argues that the government's intention to finance drone procurement through special budget loans is a misguided approach that compromises fiscal discipline.

Chen Yi-hsin, the KMT's Culture and Communications Committee chairman, stated that the government's claim that incorporating the estimated NT$40 billion annual drone budget into the regular budget would crowd out essential public spending like education and social welfare is baseless. He questioned the necessity of using special budgets and incurring debt when the government's revenue appears sufficient.

The KMT's version of the unmanned vehicle regulations allocates NT$240 billion over six years, averaging NT$40 billion annually, which is more than the Executive Yuan's proposal.

— Chen Yi-hsinThe KMT spokesperson contrasted their party's proposal for drone funding with the government's plan.

"The KMT's version of the unmanned vehicle regulations allocates NT$240 billion over six years, averaging NT$40 billion annually, which is more than the Executive Yuan's proposal," Chen said. He argued that integrating this into the annual budget would allow for yearly scrutiny by the Legislative Yuan, strengthen oversight, and foster domestic research, development, and manufacturing of unmanned vehicles, while also incorporating cybersecurity and quality control measures.

The KMT supports national defense but insists on fiscal responsibility. Chen urged the ruling party to be transparent about the true reasons for insisting on a separate special budget for drones, rather than using the excuse of potential crowding out of social welfare funds. The party believes that expenditures that should be subject to regular annual review should not be packaged as special budgets.

Why is the annual budget for drones not included in the regular budget? What is the real reason the government insists on a separate special budget?

— Chen Yi-hsinThe KMT spokesperson questioned the government's financial strategy for drone procurement.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Liberty Times in Chinese. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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