Taiwan's government is facing a serious crisis in daily operations, including national security, after opposition parties proposed significant budget cuts for this year. This was warned by Prime Minister Cho Ying-tai, "Reuters" reported, quoted by News.bg.
The ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lost its majority in parliament, with legislative control passing into the hands of the opposition. The Kuomintang and the small Taiwan People's Party proposed budget cuts worth a record NT$214.7 billion, about 7 percent of the total, with the focus on cutting administrative waste.
In addition, the opposition proposed freezing an additional NT$269.8 billion, which Prime Minister Cho's office said was 20 times the national average.
Ahead of the budget vote, Prime Minister Cho stressed that the cuts constituted a "fiscal storm" that would severely impact government operations - from national security to healthcare. "These proposals would paralyze the executive branch and make it significantly more difficult to carry out even basic tasks," the premier warned.
He added that China would be "very pleased" of proposed cuts to security units, including the Digital Ministry, which handles about 2.4 million cyberattacks daily, the vast majority of which are attributed to Chinese cyber forces.
Taiwan's Ministry of Defense also urged the opposition to reconsider a proposed 15% cut in the overseas travel budget. According to the ministry, these cuts will have a "very bad impact" on the military's engagements with international allies.
The opposition also proposed cuts to some other institutions, including the Mainland Affairs Council. For its part, the Kuomintang Party accused the DPP of spreading rumors and tried to sow fear, saying that the proposed cuts were still at the proposal stage.
A statement from the Kuomintang Party Press Office said that the budget cut proposals may not be finalized. "However, the Democratic Progressive Party is so nervous that they are shouting louder than anyone else to protect the green fat cat budget," the statement said, with the "green fat cat" being a reference to the DPP's party color.