Taipei: Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) lawmakers on Tuesday blocked a bill authorizing a special defense budget of NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.8 billion) from being placed on the agenda for Friday’s Legislative Yuan plenary session, marking the opposition’s fifth such move this month.
According to Focus Taiwan, the special budget was approved by the Cabinet on Nov. 27 to fund weapons procurement and joint development programs with the United States from 2026 to 2033. During a meeting of the Legislature’s Procedure Committee, the KMT and TPP blocked a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) proposal to include the budget in the agenda of Friday’s plenary session, instead passing a KMT-backed agenda with a 10-8 vote. This blocking occurred as China conducted large-scale military drills around Taiwan, apparently in response to a US$11.1 billion U.S. arms sale to Taiwan announced by Washington on Dec. 17.
KMT Legislative caucus Secretary-General Lo Chih-chiang referenced the drills and argued that the ruling DPP bore responsibility, noting that Chinese warplanes and vessels never crossed the Taiwan Strait’s median line while the KMT was in power. Lo stated that the KMT’s stance is to invest in both combat readiness and peace. He claimed that President Lai Ching-te was hindering the special defense budget by not addressing the Legislature and taking questions, as demanded by the KMT and TPP.
President Lai expressed in an interview that he was open to delivering a state-of-the-nation address in the Legislature but argued that legislative interpellation of the head of state would violate the separation of powers principle in the Constitution. Meanwhile, DPP lawmaker Puma Shen criticized the opposition for blocking the budget and refusing to discuss it. Shen contended that the Procedure Committee’s function is to assign a number to a bill and send it to the relevant committee. He suggested that if the opposition wants to exercise oversight, the special budget should be sent to the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee for scrutiny.
