By Chen Yu-fu and Esme Yeh / Staff reporter, with staff writer
A coalition of civic groups yesterday announced plans to protest in Taipei on Saturday next week over the legislature slashing a special defense budget and demanded that lawmakers vying for a mayoral or county commissioner post to declare their stance on the special defense act. The opposition-controlled legislature on Friday passed a special defense budget of NT$780 billion (US$24.83 billion), with a budget ceiling of NT$300 billion for the first round of US arms procurement and a cap of NT$480 billion for the second round. The aggregate amount was far less than the NT$1.25 trillion proposed by the Executive Yuan. Taiwan Economic Democracy Union convener Lai Chung-chiang (賴中強) yesterday said that those who lay down arms in the face of aggression are inviting unbridled slaughter by the aggressors.
Representatives of civic organizations hold a news conference outside the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday announcing a rally on Saturday next week to oppose a scaled-down defense budget passed by the legislature on Friday.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
As the Cabinet mulls putting forward another special defense budget bill, the civic groups demanded that the 20 ruling and opposition party lawmakers running for mayoral or commissioner posts in November’s local elections clarify their stance on the defense budget. The budget act passed on Friday removed five major military equipment items proposed in the Cabinet’s proposed package, including the “T-dome ” air-defense system’s primary weapon, various uncrewed vehicles and countermeasure systems, general-purpose ammunition and artificial intelligence-assisted intelligence decision-making modules, Lai said.
Human Rights Network for Tibet and Taiwan secretary-general Tashi Tsering said that Beijing based its persecution of Tibetans on a false peace agreement and a forged seal. He added that he hoped Taiwanese would learn from Tibet’s bloody lesson and avoid falling into traps disguised as peace. Kuma Academy chief executive officer Chu Fu-ming (朱福銘) likened the drastically reduced budget to “chopping off the head and central nervous system, leaving only the limbs.”National security is an issue as significant for local governments as for the central government, Chu said. Lawmakers who are running for heads of local governments, but have supported slashing defense spending in the legislature are lying to voters, he said. All candidates should present a civil defense white paper to show their determination in safeguarding local citizens, he added. The march is slated to begin at 1:30pm, the coalition said, adding that participants are to assemble in front of Far Eastern SOGO department store’s Fuxing Store and then head to the Taipei 101 building.