Frozen defense items not on agenda

TICKING CLOCK: With little more than two months remaining in the fiscal year, it is unclear whether frozen defense spending can be released, the army said

• By Lin Che-yuan and Lin Hsin-han / Staff reporters

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A record-late budget deadlock has left more than 150 requests to unfreeze defense funds stalled, with the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee yet to schedule a review.

The Executive Yuan submitted the central government’s 2026 fiscal year budget proposal in August last year, but the opposition-dominated legislature did not pass the budget on third reading until Aug. 14, after a record 351-day review.

The Executive Yuan did not receive the approved budget from the Legislative Yuan until Sept. 17, and the Presidential Office the next day promulgated the budget by presidential order.

Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wang Yi-chuan, left, and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hsu Chiao-hsin pose for a photograph at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei on Sept. 8.

Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times

However, since the new legislative session began on Sept. 29, Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee conveners have yet to schedule a review session, leaving more than 150 requests to unfreeze Ministry of National Defense funds awaiting review, with none approved.

The army command’s written report to the legislature shows that it had proposed more than NT$1.35 billion (US$41.75 million) for purchasing spare parts from the US for 108 M1A2T Abrams tanks, as the first batch of 38 tanks received in 2024 has reached the end of its two-year warranty period.

The replenishment items were planned in accordance with technical specifications and the list of critical and backup parts provided by US representatives based on their operational experience, the report said.

The army planned to procure 17 types (916 items) of level-2 maintenance parts, 144 types (294 items) of critical components, such as recoil mechanisms, and 86 types (303 items) of war reserve stocks such as AGT-1500 gas turbine engines — totaling 247 types and 1,513 items, it said.

Delaying procurement would adversely affect equipment sustainment, it said.

Citing concerns about restrictive procurement specifications and overlap with existing systems, opposition lawmakers also frozen 10 percent of the budget allocation for the military to use the Taiwan Tactical Mission Network and the Team Awareness Kit to establish a common operational picture for ground forces and enable decentralized command and control capabilities.

However, with little more than two months remaining in this fiscal year and a packed legislative schedule, it is uncertain if these funds can be unfrozen, and even then, there might not be enough time to complete the procurement process, the army command said.

The committee’s conveners are Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hsu Chiao-hsin (徐巧芯) and Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wang Yi-chuan (王義川).

In the first week of the current legislative session, Hsu set two special report topics — a Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) relocation project proposed by Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) of the KMT and the alleged misuse of official resources by former Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青), which she has disputed.

For this week, Wang scheduled two days of inspections and one day for a National Security Bureau operational report.

Hsu Chiao-hsin yesterday said she is in charge of setting the committee agenda for matters involving the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the OCAC.

“The Ministry of National Defense really has nothing to do with me; you have to ask Wang Yi-chuan how he is arranging them,” she said.

Wang said the schedule for operational reports and budget unfreezing proposals was discussed and confirmed with ministries and agencies last week, and meetings would be placed on the agenda in sequential order.