Budget proposal for indigenous submarines clears committee review

Taipei, Dec. 19 (CNA) A tranche of funding to start work building a fleet of indigenous defense submarines (IDS) in 2025 passed committee review 6-5 at the Legislature Thursday.

Taiwan plans to build seven more IDS following the unveiling of the IDS prototype the Narwhal, also known as Hai Kun, in September 2023, with a multi-year budget to fund the program which is scheduled to run until 2038.

Opposition lawmakers -- Hsu Chiao-hsin (徐巧芯), Ma Wen-chun (馬文君), and Huang Jen (黃仁) of the Kuomintang (KMT), as well as Lin Yi-chun (林憶君) of the Taiwan People's Party (TPP) -- tendered motions to reject, in part or in full, the NT$1.99 billion (US$61 million) budget proposal submitted by the Ministry of National Defense.

In response, ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker Wang Ting-yu (王定宇), who chaired the meeting, filed a motion to retain the budget proposal in its entirety, with the proviso that the money can only be spent after the Narwhal passes its sea acceptance test (SAT).

The Narwhal cannot undergo SAT before it clears a harbor acceptance test, which began shortly after the vessel's unveiling last year and was originally scheduled to be completed in April.

However, opposition lawmakers, again tried to vote down Wang's proposal and were tied with their DPP colleagues 5-5. In view of the gridlock, Wang cast the tiebreaker by voting in favor of the motion.

The budget proposal will now go to cross-caucus negotiations to be further considered.