Protesters to call for lawmakers to get back to work

• By Chen Chih-cheng / Staff reporter

• • Add TT as Preferred Source

  • 

  • 

  • 

More than 40 civic groups are planning to protest outside the Legislative Yuan today, calling for opposition lawmakers to “stop slacking off,” as the new legislative session opens.

The campaign, called “No slacking off as the legislative session opens, citizens sound the alert after work,” is being organized by the Taiwan Citizen Front and Taiwan Economic Democracy Union, among others.

They are calling for legislators to not stall the review of the 2026 fiscal year supplementary budget, prioritize domestic drone development, stop “paralyzing state institutions” and end delays in funding social welfare programs.

Representatives from civic organizations hold a news conference in Taipei on Thursday announcing plans to hold a rally in front of the Legislative Yuan today.

Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times

Lawmakers from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party, who together hold a majority in the legislature, have repeatedly blocked the review of major livelihood bills, delayed reviewing the central government budget and boycotted the confirmation of personnel appointments, including Constitutional Court justices, and commissioners for the Central Election Commission and the National Communications Commission, Taiwan Economic Democracy Union convener Lai Chung-chiang (賴中強) said.

The campaign seeks to address concerns over national security, public welfare funding and the paralysis of constitutional bodies, he said.

The groups would also issue four “alerts” to convey the urgency of these demands, he added.

First, the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in October 2020 set a goal to achieve a fully modern military by the centennial of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) on Aug. 1 next year, Lai said.

The CCP is only about 10 months from its set goal to accelerate the PLA’s military modernization to target Taiwan and “safeguard its national sovereignty,” he said.

Second, the PLA is boosting its maritime combat capabilities, with its Type 076 landing helicopter dock the Sichuan (四川) already starting sea trials and three Type 071 amphibious transport dock vessels under construction, he said.

Both directly threaten security in the Taiwan Strait, he added.

Third, Taiwan should learn lessons from Ukraine and develop drones to engage in asymmetric warfare, constructing a “hellscape” in the Taiwan Strait, Lai said, citing a report by Washington-based think tank Center for a New American Security.

However, the legislature cut the budget for those efforts from the special defense budget in May, he said, adding that the Executive Yuan has proposed restoring it in a supplementary budget for this year.

With only 93 days remaining in the year, if the legislature fails to complete the review, the supplementary budget would lose its legal effect, he said.

Last, the Legislative Yuan should pass the supplementary budgets by the end of next month, Lai said.

Even after the supplementary budget passes the legislature’s third reading, the defense budget still needs to go through bidding, contracting and processing, he said.

Therefore, the legislature must pass it within one month in the new legislative session, leaving at least two months for the military to execute the budget, he added.