KAOHSIUNG (TVBS News) — Taiwan's Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) sharply criticized proposed cash handout policies during his Tuesday (July 15) visit to a government grain storage facility in Kaohsiung, Taiwan's southern port city. Cho argued that distributing money directly to citizens fails to strengthen "national security" and provides no lasting benefits for development. The premier instead advocated for strategic investments in critical infrastructure, specifically mentioning grain warehouse renovations and drone acquisition as more prudent alternatives to cash disbursements that might merely fund household appliances or recreational purchases.
During his inspection of the Agriculture and Food Agency's (農糧署) warehouse, Cho emphasized food security as a fundamental pillar of national resilience. He called on the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA, 農業部) to pursue comprehensive modernization of grain storage infrastructure to improve preservation quality and extend shelf life of strategic food reserves. The premier further criticized Taiwan's parliament, the Legislative Yuan (立法院), for unilaterally increasing budget allocations without proper consultation with the Executive Yuan (行政院), Taiwan's cabinet, calling such actions a direct violation of constitutional provisions and budget laws that require executive branch input on fiscal matters.
The premier referenced recent natural disaster impacts in neighboring Tainan, where a typhoon had damaged approximately 6,000 rooftops and affected between 17,000 and 18,000 households. Cho argued that government borrowing for targeted disaster relief represents a more responsible approach than broad cash distributions. He revealed that Taiwan's special budget reserves of NT$410 billion (approximately US$14 billion) have been depleted, with only NT$30 billion (approximately US$1 billion) remaining in tax surplus — far below the NT$230 billion (approximately US$7.8 billion) required for the proposed cash handout program.
Cho called on legislators from his own Democratic Progressive Party (DPP, 民進黨), Taiwan's ruling party, to uphold budgetary discipline by following established fiscal regulations. The premier emphasized that government resources should prioritize investments that strengthen national security and resilience rather than distributing NT$10,000 (approximately US$341) payments to citizens without strategic purpose. He characterized such direct payments as casual expenditures that fail to address Taiwan's long-term security and development needs. ◼
(At time of reporting, US$1 equals approximately NT$29.339).