Taiwanese legislative and executive political dispute

The political dispute in Taiwan between the Executive Yuan and the Legislative Yuan has intensified, centered on national security legislation and a historic move to freeze Premier Cho Jung-tai’s salary.

Regarding the Military Criminal Law, the Executive Yuan proposed penalizing active-duty personnel who express loyalty to an enemy with up to seven years in prison to prevent security loopholes involving social media or technology. Kuomintang legislator Weng Hsiao-ling has challenged this, arguing the sentence is disproportionate and proposing a five-year maximum to balance defense with freedom of speech. Due to a lack of consensus, the amendment has been referred back to party caucuses for negotiation.

In a significant escalation, the Legislative Yuan passed a proposal to freeze Premier Cho’s salary for four months, from September to December, totaling approximately 1.48 million TWD. This is the first such freeze in the history of the Republic of China’s constitutional system. Weng Hsiao-ling defended the measure as a legitimate use of legislative oversight to restrain what she characterized as an “abuse of power” by President Lai Ching-te and Premier Cho.

Opposition lawmakers from the Kuomintang and Taiwan People Party cited the Executive Yuan’s refusal to countersign legislative amendments, such as the Financial Revenue and Expenditure Allocation Act, and scrutiny over the Premier’s private trip to Japan as justifications. Weng clarified that the freeze is a conditional measure intended to ensure constitutional compliance, stating that unfreezing the funds is tied to the Executive Yuan properly countersigning laws and adhering to legal budget allocations.