DPP decries ‘retaliatory’ budget cut proposals from opposition

DPP decries ‘retaliatory’ budget cut proposals from opposition

2025-01-17

The Legislative Yuan on Wednesday began negotiations over Taiwan’s national budget for 2025 that under an Executive Yuan plan stood at NT$32.74 trillion in total. Opposition lawmakers, who have a majority in the legislature, are proposing to slash it by more than NT$300 billion, or over 10%. The Executive Yuan on Thursday protested these proposals, saying the cuts could severely hamper the government’s operations. On Friday, the ruling DPP held a press conference, where they labeled the opposition’s proposals unreasonable and like “cultural martial law.” Let’s hear what everyone had to say.

Justin Wu
DPP spokesperson
At this point, it’s a no-holds-barred political prosecution that in the end, sacrifices the rights of the people. The KMT and the TPP truly are sinister servants that harm their masters, the people.

DPP spokesperson Justin Wu decries several budget cuts proposed by opposition parties. Some of the proposals included eliminating the media budget for all ministries. The opposition also proposed cutting the operational budgets of the Ministry of Digital Affairs, the National Communications Commission, and the Mainland Affairs Council to just NT$1, claiming the three ministries serve no function.

Cho Kuan-ting
DPP spokesperson
Cutting it all the way to just NT$1. There’s only one way to describe it: it’s what crybabies do. As long as they’re unsatisfied or unhappy, or their views differ from yours, it’s all down to zero.

For example, the Ministry of Culture has asked for NT$195 million for the Culture Points program, but the KMT wants to shave off NT$2 million from this and freeze a further NT$10 million. The reason they gave was that most of the Culture Points were spent in the bookstore and publishing industries, instead of reaching the objective of diversifying cultural activities. Additionally, funding for the Taiwan Public Service Foundation at NT$2.31billion should be slashed down to zero, KMT lawmakers said, citing various controversies, such as the TV drama “Three Tears in Borneo,” which the KMT perceives to lean too close to imperial Japan. The opposition also proposed slashing other various items across ministries to zero for a myriad of reasons.

Justin Wu
DPP spokesperson
Wang Hung-wei says she doubts whether the firefighting equipment can be used if a war were to break out, so that’s why she’s cutting it. I find this reason to be absolutely ridiculous. Lai Shyh-bao says he’s cutting regular administrative fees under the National Police Agency. He says the tasks can be done by the police officers themselves. So, Lai Shyh-bao, you won’t even let the officers off the hook. Are you asking them to do the cleaning?

Cho Kuan-ting
DPP spokesperson
Sometimes cuts are proposed because we just can’t stand the other. That’s all very normal. But you can’t make retaliatory and unreasonable cuts just because you’re unhappy. In that case, I think it’s the people that will be unhappy in the end.

The DPP decries the opposition’s budget cut proposals as revenge on the ruling party that will hamper the functioning of the country.

For more Taiwan news, tune in:
Sun to Fri at 9:30 pm on Channel 152
Tue to Sat at 1 am on Channel 53

藍白聯手砍預算逾3000億! 民進黨砲轟"假監督真報復"

2025-01-17

立法院15號展開總預算案黨團協商，但藍白卻聯手揚言大砍中央砍3000多億預算，不只影響行政作業、更會嚴重影響國家正常運作，今天(17號)民進黨中央發言人吳崢、卓冠廷召開記者會，痛批國民黨與民眾黨立委的作為，是假監督之名，行"文化戒嚴之實"，根本是報復性刪預算。

[[民進黨發言人吳崢]]
“已經來到政治鬥爭的無限上綱，最後犧牲人民權益的狀況，藍白才是真正的惡僕欺主。”

民進黨發言人吳崢砲轟在野黨團，提案大幅刪減、凍結多項預算，除了刪光文宣費，有些部會業務費，甚至被砍到只剩1元。

[[民進黨發言人卓冠廷]]
“刪到一塊錢的行徑，套一句幾年前流行的話，其實就是小孬孬的行徑，他不爽的、他不高興的，他看到跟你立場不同的，或想法不同的就是全面性刪除。”

藍白砍文化部等相關預算理由，包含砍文化禮金，理由竟然是消費情況，會多集中在書店及出版業，難達成推展藝文活動多樣化的目標，看了讓人匪夷所思；另外像是刪文化部23億預算，只因"聽海湧"這部台劇歷史詮釋角度和國民黨立場不同；另外包含海委會加菜金、消防人員設備及訓練預算，也遭王鴻薇砍光。

[[民進黨發言人吳崢]]
“王鴻薇砍這個，說因為消防人員的裝備，未來如果發生戰爭災害，你是不是也可以派上用場，那是不是表示要爆發戰爭呢？不行，所以要砍，我看到這理由覺得滑天下之大稽。賴士葆刪警政署底下一般行政費用，賴士葆說這可以由單位人員自己辦理，賴士葆你這個也要砍、也要欺負，警察自己去掃地就好啦。”

[[民進黨發言人卓冠廷]]
“有時候刪預算，有時候互相看不爽，這都是正常的事，但是你今天因為為了自己不高興，報復性亂刪預算，那我覺得不爽就變成人民。”

直言藍白砍預算，假監督之名、行報復之實，誰在阻礙國家正常運作，全民都在看。

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Tourism operators hope that Taiwan’s hotel industry can return to its former glory as soon as possible, but they say it will all depend on the future talks between Taipei and Beijing.

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According to the ruling made by the Constitutional Court under the Judicial Yuan, the death penalty is constitutional and not unconstitutional. Therefore I very much hope that the public can support the Ministry of Justice administering this according to the law. At the same time, I would also like to express my condolences to the families of victims. After so many years, it’s been tough on everyone.

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China reports that infections of flu-like human metapneumovirus - known as HMPV - are down in the northern part of the country. In recent weeks, reports of rising cases of the virus in the country where COVID-19 began sparked worries of another potential pandemic.

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