Opposition leaders criticize DPP, Lai in National Day remarks

Taipei, Oct. 10 (CNA) Kuomintang (KMT) Chairperson Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) on Saturday urged voters to help her party win local elections in southern Taiwan, while Taiwan People's Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) called on President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) to promulgate laws passed by the Legislature.

The two opposition party leaders made their remarks separately on National Day.

Speaking at a flag-raising ceremony in Kaohsiung's Guomao community, Cheng accused the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of heightening cross-strait tensions and undermining Taiwan's democracy.

She urged voters to support KMT candidates in Kaohsiung, Tainan and Pingtung County in the Nov. 28 local elections.

Cheng said peace across the Taiwan Strait was essential to safeguarding Taiwan's democracy, freedom and prosperity, arguing that dialogue and contact could reduce the risk of conflict and allow future generations to benefit from peace.

She also criticized the DPP government's energy policies and called for a resumption of nuclear power generation.

Economic growth should benefit older manufacturing industries, services, agriculture and fisheries, and not be concentrated in the high-tech sector, she said.

KMT Kaohsiung mayoral candidate Ko Chih-en (柯志恩), Tainan mayoral candidate Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) and Pingtung County magistrate candidate Su Ching-chuan (蘇清泉) attended the event, along with former Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) and other KMT officials.

In Taipei, Huang spoke before attending the National Day celebrations with eight TPP lawmakers.

He said the executive branch had no right to refuse to promulgate, or formally enact, laws that had cleared a third and final reading in the Legislature, or to refuse to implement them.

Huang was responding to Lai's call for lawmakers to swiftly review and pass the central government's 2027 budget and a supplementary budget for this year.

The Legislative Yuan, where the KMT and the TPP hold a combined majority, has not yet begun committee review of the budgets, Huang said, accusing Lai of creating the misleading impression that lawmakers were deliberately delaying their passage.

The TPP would support a budget that benefited the public but would not tolerate corruption or waste, he said.

Huang also urged Lai to honor his campaign pledge to build 130,000 social housing units and to address high housing costs, the rising cost of living and wealth inequality.

Lai has declined to promulgate several bills passed by the opposition parties.

The Cabinet has said the bills could strain the central government's finances, favor specific groups, or provide a legal basis for the government, political parties or the military to invest in private media outlets, potentially influencing their operations.

In one of the highest-profile cases, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) last year refused to countersign a law that would increase the share of tax revenue allocated to local governments, after raising doubts over its constitutionality.