The Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee of the Legislative Yuan today invited Defense Minister Gu Lixiong to report on the business overview and prepare for questions. In the afternoon, it will handle the freeze of 163 items in the Ministry of National Defense budget. Kuomintang legislator Ma Wenjun questioned that the military's inclusion of budget bills that did not meet the freezing conditions on the agenda not only destroyed the tacit understanding between the two parties, but also affected subsequent budget deliberations. She even listed 15 projects at once. She criticized the Ministry of National Defense for "wasting time" and the questioning firepower made all officials stand up one after another, creating a scene of "starry sky listening to training."
Ma Wenjun said that the national defense budget for next year will soar to more than NT$1.1 trillion, and there will be additional budgets. The large increase has become a top priority. However, he regrets that today the Ministry of National Defense has put all 163 projects that were frozen during the budget review in August on the agenda. Some cases did not meet the conditions for unfreezing but still required members to re-examine them case by case. She revealed that she had originally agreed to unfreeze more than 50 cases, but the military's move not only undermined the efficiency of discussions, but also undermined the tacit understanding of negotiations between the two parties, and may also affect next year's defense budget review.
She listed as many as 15 controversial defense procurement cases in one fell swoop, including the Stinger missile training missiles that have not yet received a price offer from the United States, the tow-2B missile ITAS project acquisition system sent to the United States for repairs, the purchase of F-16 precision weapons, and other purchases from the U.S. military; as well as the second phase of the Haikun submarine and the F-16A/B fighter Auto The GCAS anti-collision system case and other major equipment purchases by the national army, plus other budgets such as the military museum, the construction of the second route around the island of the Information and Communications Technology, etc., most of the cases bombarding the military are unclear, "Why should the freeze be thaw?"
Gu Lixiong explained that the Ministry of National Defense has proposed a total of 201 frozen cases this time, and a total of 163 cases are on the agenda today. The Haikun case mentioned by Ma Wenjun is not included in this list. Army Chief of Staff Chen Jianyi said that the price proposal for the Stinger missile training missile has entered the production and review stage and is on the agenda for unfreezing because once the price proposal is submitted, the down payment must be paid immediately. Ma Wenjun fired back, saying that the condition was as simple as "getting the offer letter". Chen Jianyi's words were like "cheating a three-year-old child." The intensity of her questioning was such that as many as 11 officials, including Gu Lixiong, stood at one point to answer questions, creating a strange scene of "a starry sky listening to instructions."
After a series of questions from the ruling and opposition legislators, Chairman Wang Yichuan finally announced that 53 projects for which the Ministry of National Defense had communicated with the budget committee members proposing to freeze the budget would agree to be unfrozen before spending. In addition, KMT legislator Niu Xuting agreed to an additional case, so a total of 54 projects were approved by the committee members. It was agreed to unfreeze, and the remaining 89 cases will be left for the next meeting. The 54 unfrozen cases include the Army's M1A2T tank purchase parts and accessories from the United States, a freeze of 5 million yuan for T112 rifles, the Navy's 24 Mk48 long-range submarine-launched heavy torpedoes and 4 mines.
In addition, 20 frozen items were successfully unfrozen and began to be spent today after the Ministry of National Defense and other units submitted reports within the deadline, including the Ministry of National Defense's strengthening of resilience procurement of combat readiness water, the Army's purchase of an additional 1,985 man-portable Stinger missiles and other procurement budgets.
