TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Legislative Yuan’s Procedure Committee, with Kuomintang and Taiwan People’s Party members acting in concert, on Tuesday postponed placing the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$40 billion) special defense budget on the Dec. 5 agenda.

TPP Chair Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) backed the KMT’s push to delay the listing, while Democratic Progressive Party members arrived with protest placards, per CNA. Committee Rotating Chair Weng Hsiao-ling (翁曉玲) cast the deciding vote to postpone the review, prompting DPP lawmakers to accuse her of blocking the defense budget and to chant slogans labeling the KMT as collaborators with China.

DPP caucus director Chung Chia-pin (鍾佳濱) condemned the opposition’s move, saying the Procedure Committee does not have the authority to withhold items from the legislative agenda, per ETtoday. “Investing in defense is investing in peace,” he said, urging the opposition to allow the budget to proceed to the full legislature.

One of the KMT’s central demands is that President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) deliver a state of the nation address and answer lawmakers’ questions about the special budget. KMT caucus secretary-general Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) argued that the questioning would help the public understand the budget’s national impact, per UDN.

KMT legislative caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁) added that if Lai does not want to take questions, he could hold a press conference at the Presidential Office instead of the Legislative Yuan, per KNews.

DPP Legislator Wu Szu-yao (吳思瑤) countered that a past Constitutional Court ruling has already deemed such demands unconstitutional, per CNA. She noted the Constitutional Court found that requiring the president to report to the legislature and answer questions violates Taiwan’s separation-of-powers framework.

Chung pointed out that former President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) addressed the National Assembly several times but did not take questions every time, per FTV.

Despite the Constitutional Court’s ruling, legal interpretations of whether the legislature may request a presidential briefing remain contested.

Soochow University Professor Chang Chia-yin (張嘉伊) said constitutional wording indicates the legislature “can” listen to a presidential report, per Taiwan FactCheck Center. Another Soochow professor, Su Tzu-chiao (蘇子喬), argued the phrasing implies an obligation, citing similar usage in other parts of the Constitution.

Academia Sinica researcher Huang Cheng-yi (黃丞儀) said that even if the Constitution does not explicitly require presidential addresses, they are consistent with “mutual respect” among constitutional branches.

On the matter of lawmakers questioning the president, Huang said such a system would make the president directly accountable to the legislature, undermining the separation of powers. Su, however, argued that questioning authority could serve as a legislative check on presidential power.

National Taiwan University Professor Wang Yeh-lih (王業立) said the diverging scholarly interpretations highlight the ambiguous constitutional relationship between the presidency, the Cabinet, and the Legislative Yuan. He noted that while the legislature has clear oversight over the Cabinet, no such structure exists for supervision of the president.