TAIPEI (Reuters) -Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te appealed on Monday in his Lunar New Year message for harmony between ruling party and opposition, amid a standoff over the opposition slashing this year’s budget.
While Lai won the presidential election last year, his Democratic Progressive Party lost its majority in parliament, giving the opposition control over spending proposals.
Last week the opposition, citing a need to cut waste, passed cuts that the government says amount to T$207.6 billion ($6.33 billion) or 6.6% of proposed central government spending.
On Thursday, Premier Cho Jung-tai called the cuts “suicidal” and said nearly T$90 billion ($2.74 billion) of the defence budget was frozen, which could hurt training missions abroad and even fuel for fighter jets. But the opposition has shown no sign of backing down.
This could presage conflict with the new U.S. administration of President Donald Trump, which is required by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself.
In his message, carried on social media, Lai did not directly mention the budget or other disputes with the opposition.
“There is a saying that in a harmonious family, all things prosper,” he said. “The same goes for our nation. I look forward to the ruling and opposition parties being in harmony and our society uniting.”
Taiwan enjoyed strong support from the first Trump administration, including regularising arms sales that continued under the Biden administration. But Trump unnerved Taiwan on the campaign trail by calling for it to pay to be defended.
Elbridge Colby, Trump’s nominee as under secretary of defense for policy, has explicitly urged Taiwan to spend much more on defence to counter the threat posed by China, which considers the democratically ruled island part of its territory and last year staged two major military exercises nearby.
The U.S. State Department nevertheless gave a reserved response at the weekend to the budget row.
“We defer to the relevant Taiwan authorities regarding Taiwan’s budget decisions,” a spokesperson said.
“Our priority remains peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, which is important to U.S. national security and economic prosperity. We remain committed, consistent with the Taiwan Relations Act, to providing arms and training to enable a sufficient self-defense capability.”
Lai, whom Beijing denounces as a “separatist”, did not extend New Year greetings to China.
($1 = 32.8170 Taiwan dollars)
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; additional reporting by David Brunnstrom and Michael Martina in Washington; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Kevin Liffey)
