TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) on Tuesday criticized KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁) for repeatedly skipping talks on the 2026 central government budget, SETN reported.
Speaking while chairing the third round of budget negotiations, Han criticized Fu for missing the talks for the fifth time. He said Fu also refused to authorize KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) to negotiate on his behalf.
Han questioned why Fu continued to serve as caucus whip if he would neither attend the talks nor authorize another KMT official to negotiate. He said Fu had three choices: attend the negotiations himself, authorize Lin to represent the caucus, or resign from the position.
Han also complained that the legislature had extended its session until the end of August to complete unfinished work, but the budget negotiations were still making little progress. He said lawmakers could not tell the public they were extending the session and then fail to accomplish anything, per CNA.
The dispute comes as the legislature is still reviewing the central government budget for 2026, which would normally have been approved in the second half of last year. NPP Chair Wang Wan-yu (王婉諭) said more than 1,000 budget proposals remained unresolved after committee reviews.
Under legislative procedure, Han must call cross-party negotiations to settle disputed proposals before they go to votes on the legislative floor. If the parties cannot reach agreements, lawmakers could be required to vote separately on more than 1,000 proposals, per UDN.
Wang said previous negotiations had stalled because Fu either did not attend or refused to authorize another KMT representative to make decisions. She said this left many KMT proposals unresolved and contributed to the continuing delay.
She warned that the Cabinet is expected to submit the central government budget for 2027 later this month. If lawmakers have not completed the 2026 budget by then, they could be reviewing budgets for two different years at the same time, per EBC News.
Wang criticized the opposition for what she described as wasting legislative time rather than carrying out effective oversight. She said the prolonged delay risked becoming an embarrassing moment for Taiwan’s democratic system.
