Lai calls on opposition to focus on budget reviews, not impeachment attempts

Taipei, Jan. 1 (CNA) President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) said Thursday that the opposition parties' move to impeach him was "impossible to clear the legislative floor" and therefore a "waste of time," urging them instead to focus on reviewing budgets.

Lai was responding to a reporter's request for comment following his New Year's Day address on the opposition's impeachment plan.

The Kuomintang (KMT) and the Taiwan People's Party (TPP), which together hold a legislative majority, passed a motion on Dec. 26 to initiate impeachment proceedings against Lai, citing his failure to promulgate a legislative amendment that would have increased the share of public revenues allocated to local governments.

It marked the first time in contemporary Taiwanese history that a president has failed to promulgate a law passed by the Legislature.

However, Lai said Thursday that the impeachment vote, which would require the approval of two-thirds of all lawmakers to advance to the Constitutional Court for deliberation, would amount to nothing but a "waste of time."

"You know very well that you don't have a two-thirds majority, and yet you tendered the motion anyway," Lai said at the Presidential Office.

"You should be spending that precious time reviewing the general budget, the special defense budget, and bills that would drive the country's economic growth," he said, adding that he hoped opposition parties would clearly explain to the public why they were pursuing impeachment instead.

The KMT and TPP together control 60 of the Legislature's 113 seats. The ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) holds 51 seats, with the remaining two held by KMT-leaning independent lawmakers, making a two-thirds majority highly unlikely.

The opposition caucuses have stalled the review of the 2026 general budget proposal submitted by the Cabinet last August, marking the first time a general budget has failed to undergo committee review at the start of a new fiscal year.

In response, KMT spokesperson Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) said that while Lai has called for reconciliation, he has failed to address demands raised by opposition parties.

Although the DPP claims to be strengthening national defense, it has consistently refused to allocate funds for pay raises for military personnel, Niu said in a statement, referring to a legal amendment passed by the opposition in June.

With those demands unmet, Niu questioned how the budget review process could proceed smoothly.

In a separate statement, the TPP criticized the Lai administration for failing to carry out what it described as the most basic task of earmarking funds in accordance with the law.

Amid delays in the delivery of weapons ordered from the United States, the party said, Lai expects the opposition to back an "opaque" NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.82 billion) special defense spending plan without clearly specifying what items it would fund.