Premier Cho makes concession in bid to break budget impasse

Taipei, Oct. 22 (CNA) Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) on Tuesday proposed to increase funding for compensation to Indigenous peoples for a logging ban, as requested by opposition lawmakers, in a bid to break a long standoff over the 2025 central government budget plan.

But Cho, speaking on the legislative floor, stressed that the "concession" by the executive branch would be a one-off "exception."

At the same time, the premier also hinted that if the current deadlock persisted, the Cabinet might bring the issue to the Constitutional Court, despite noting that he was "very much not inclined to do so."

If the Cabinet did decide to seek the court's intervention, it would be the second time in 2024 alone that the executive body has sought a constitutional ruling on disputes with the Legislative Yuan, the previous dispute coming over government oversight laws passed in late May.

In the most recent battle, opposition Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People's Party (TPP) lawmakers have demanded that the government budget the funding needed to support logging ban compensation as a prerequisite for initiating the review of the proposed budget bill.

Under amendments to the Logging Ban Compensation for Lands Reserved for Indigenous Peoples Act enacted by the Legislature in June, compensation for logging bans on Indigenous lands was increased to NT$60,000 (US$1,856) per hectare.

But in its original budget plan for fiscal 2025, the compensation remained at NT$30,000 per hectare, with total spending estimated to be NT$2.1 billion.

Speaking Tuesday before the next round of negotiations on the issue on Thursday, Cho said the Cabinet was willing to revise the central government budget plan and raise the compensation to NT$60,000 per hectare if the opposition agreed to not make similar demands in the future.

There was no immediate reaction to Cho's comment from KMT or TPP lawmakers.

The issue has kept the NT$3.33 trillion budget proposal presented by the Cabinet from passing its first reading, with opposition lawmakers having voted it down five times since the new session began on Sept. 20.

Passing a first reading is a necessary step before the bill can be sent to various legislative committees for careful deliberation.

Negotiations between the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislative caucus and their counterparts from the KMT and TPP have been held since Sept. 20, to no avail.

Prior to Cho's comments Tuesday, the only other attempt by the DPP to break the deadlock was when caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) proposed to raise the compensation to NT$40,000 per hectare in 2025, with subsequent payments tied to changes in the consumer price index.

Aside from the logging ban issue, KMT and TPP lawmakers -- who together hold a majority in the Legislature -- have also demanded that the Cabinet increase funding in the 2025 budget to acquire public food stocks and reimburse medical facilities, in line with two legislative resolutions adopted this year.

DPP lawmakers criticized the opposition lawmakers as abusing their power, however, arguing that the Legislature was not permitted to raise government budgets beyond what was proposed by the Cabinet.