Ruling party, opposition exchange barbs on annual budget case

Taipei, Jan. 5 (CNA) Taiwan's two major political parties squabbled again Monday over the proposed NT$3.03 trillion central government budget for 2026, with each side blaming the other for the inability to get it through the Legislative Yuan.

Opposition Kuomintang (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) said Monday that the stalemate over the budget stems from what she described as President Lai Ching-te's (賴清德) disregard for laws passed by the Legislative Yuan.

In an interview, Cheng said the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government has blocked laws such as one that mandated pay raises for active-duty military personnel and another that rolled back pension cuts affecting civil servants and public school teachers.

Cheng said the welfare and honor of military personnel are "the core of the core" of Taiwan's defense, adding that if Lai and Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) were genuinely concerned about strengthening national security, they would not oppose efforts to improve service members' welfare.

She contended that the ruling party's refusal to do so had dealt a serious blow to troop morale.

In defending the opposition's moves in the Legislature, in which the KMT and smaller opposition Taiwan People's Party combine to form a majority, Cheng said KMT and TPP lawmakers had acted in good faith and hoped the constitutional system would function smoothly.

She accused Lai, however, of avoiding core issues and instead treating the opposition as an adversary, creating unnecessary conflict.

In response, Wu Cheng (吳崢), a spokesperson for the ruling DPP, said the annual budget was submitted by the Cabinet to the Legislature at the end of August, but its review has been continuously delayed by opposition parties.

On the issue of improving military welfare, Wu said President Lai approved pay raises for voluntary service members in April 2025.

Also, since the DPP took power in 2016, the government had raised salaries for civil servants, military personnel and public school teachers four times, compared with a single increase during former President Ma Ying-jeou's eight-year tenure.

He said Lai and Cho had made it clear that the laws they suspected of being "unconstitutional" would have been implemented if the Constitutional Court had ruled them constitutional.

Also on Monday, DPP legislative caucus leader Chung Chia-pin (鍾佳濱) said at a press conference that the party would continue to communicate with the opposition, and he urged it to set aside preconceptions and work toward a resolution to the budget impasse.

DPP lawmaker Chen Pei-yu (陳培瑜) said the failure to pass the budget would disrupt programs such as the TPass public transportation initiative and flood control projects, with the consequences felt across society.

The KMT and TPP have also passed legislation that expands the power of the legislative branch, creates a higher bar for the Constitutional Court to function, and gives a higher share of central government revenues to local governments, all of which have been opposed by the DPP.

The acrimony between the two sides has carried over to personnel appointments. On two separate occasions, Lai has nominated seven justices to fill openings on the Constitutional Court without consulting the opposition, and they were rejected.

The DPP could try to appeal directly to TPP lawmakers to approve the budget because they have a combined 58 seats in the 113-seat Legislature, but the TPP has yet to vote in support of the government.