Taiwan's main opposition Kuomintang and Taiwan People's Party have joined forces against the ruling Democratic Progressive Party to block the budget from passing on to a vote. They've rallied Indigenous people and farmers from all over the country to demand more funding to be allocated to their causes.
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00:00Members of Taiwan's legislature have still yet to agree on the budget for next year after
00:06six rounds of negotiations.
00:08It's been stalled for weeks, but it's now come down to the few clauses that have divided
00:14legislators.
00:15And hundreds of people even came out to protest.
00:17Our reporter Tiffany Wong is following the story for us from Taipei.
00:21Tiffany, what are the big deal breakers on this budget?
00:26Hi, Joyce.
00:29As you said, the legislature has met now for the sixth time to discuss next year's budget,
00:34and they've still yet to come to a consensus after hours of discussion.
00:39Now once again, the main opposition, Kuomintang and Taiwan People's Party, have teamed up
00:45to repel that budget, the cabinet's budget, from passing over clauses on compensation
00:51for indigenous people as well as funds for farmers and medical facilities.
00:57Now it's even come to the point where the KMT rallied together its supporters from all
01:01over the country to come in front of the Legislative Yuan today and voice their opinions.
01:06And we saw hundreds of people, mostly indigenous people and farmers, come out in droves today.
01:12And this is what they had to say.
01:14We are here today to defend the rights of our own people, and we are also here to support
01:23the rights of our own people, and we are also here to support the rights of our own people.
01:53Now an indigenous politician that I talked to earlier today said that those funds have
02:01actually already been allocated through other channels, and that the KMT is merely grasping
02:06at straws to stop the budget from passing.
02:10And Tiffany, might there be a turning point to all this push and pull?
02:18That looks like a very long shot.
02:20As we've seen all year, the KMT and TPP have been teaming up against the ruling Democratic
02:26Progressive Party, causing squabbles and even physical fights in the legislature as they
02:30try to push their own agenda through.
02:33And they're only left with the executive branch and the constitutional court to sort of check
02:40over those things.
02:41And tomorrow we're expecting a major decision from the constitutional court over other contentious
02:47laws passed by a joint KMT and TPP force earlier this year.
02:52Those are legislative oversight laws.
02:54Now depending on that result, the arguments over the budget may blow over into an even
03:00bigger squabble, and we may see that even spill out into society.