Taiwan's premier Cho Jung-tai has said he is tracking flooding across central and southern Taiwan by telephone rather than in person, after the Legislative Yuan cut the cabinet's policy liaison budget by 90 percent. Cabinet spokesperson Michelle Lee said the reduction to the executive's "policy promotion and liaison" line has constrained the premier's movements during the disaster response period, CNA reported. Cho is using phone and video calls to establish local conditions and needs so that municipal responses are not held up, and has said he will not leave residents on their own.
Days of heavy rain have flooded parts of central and southern Taiwan. The dispute over the premier's absence has run alongside the response itself.
The Kuomintang has rejected the budget explanation. Chen I-hsin, who heads the party's culture and communications committee, said southern residents are sitting in floodwater while the cabinet argues about money. Lin Pei-hsiang, the KMT caucus secretary-general, said the government is holding more funding rather than less and described the position as carrying a gold rice bowl while pretending to beg, Liberty Times reported. The party has said that flood-control, disaster-prevention and flood-season budgets were not cut by a single dollar.
Ko Chih-en, the KMT's candidate for Kaohsiung mayor, addressed the premier directly, saying he need not travel south but that the central government cannot be absent, and urging him not to forget how many are suffering. A separate line of criticism has focused on Cho's schedule: KMT legislator Wang Hung-wei said he campaigned in Taipei on Sunday for a party candidate while declining to inspect the flooding, and the cabinet has issued a response.
