Sep 4, 2026 · 38 min · 11 segments
After months of making noise, the KMT ultimately capitulated and allowed the DPP's massive military spending package to pass, despite opposition within the party and pressure from the United States…
In my previous episode, I said that the KMT does not have many incentives to approve the budget, but I overlooked a few things.
The first thing is, Washington does not interfere in Taiwan's internal politics if it's just stuff local to the region.
If it has to do with, say, healthcare reform or anything of the like, it'll let us find it out among ourselves without much interference.
However, when it affects the U.S. ruling class' bottom line, they will intervene one way or another.
Take one example.
When former leader Ma Ying-jeou's administration moved to further integrate Taiwan's economy with the mainland's, a color revolution known as the Sunflower Movement was detonated, with all the fingerprints of the NED and other NGOs forcing the Ma Ying-jeou administration to abort the process.
To be clear, There are voices within the KMT that are against the proposed military budget.
But this is not what happened.
Because there was an impasse over this bill, several cross-party talks were held between the political parties.
The KMT's caucus whip, Fu Kunqi, missed five out of six of these meetings as a protest against the executive branch.
His thinking was quite simple.
If the executive, controlled by the DPP, does not fulfill its constitutional duty to implement the laws passed by the legislative body, then why should I engage in talks to pass the budget you want so badly? So he missed these meetings without designating anyone to act in his absence, which would stall the negotiations indefinitely.
And he's correct.
In the liberal democracy, this is how the checks and balances and all that stuff work.
What he did not expect, though, was for the legislative speaker, you know, the guy who controls the legislative body, Han Kuo-yu, who's also from the KMT, to crash out.
The budget had been stalled for 349 days, and Han Kuo-yu wanted to get it passed as soon as possible.
So he crashed out on camera saying, like, Fu Kunqi should just resign if he's not going to attend these meetings.
And even said, 你敬酒不吃,想吃法酒。 Which literally means, if you refuse a toast, then you will drink from the penalty cup.
It's hard to really translate the sentiment behind it into English, but it's basically like saying, you're asking to do things the hard way before a fistfight.
Then Han Guoyu went on to crash out about how the legislature has been controlled by dark forces.
As the speaker of the legislative body, Han Guoyu is superior to all legislators.
But from the party standpoint, even though Han Guoyu and Fu Kunqi are both from the KMT, Fu Kunqi represents the party and the legislature.
So while the two serve different roles in their official positions, this episode really highlighted some rifts within the party.
In my previous episode, I said that the KMT does not have many incentives to approve the budget, but I overlooked a few things.
The first thing is, Washington does not interfere in Taiwan's internal politics if it's just stuff local to the region.
If it has to do with, say, healthcare reform or anything of the like, it'll let us find it out among ourselves without much interference.
However, when it affects the U.S. ruling class' bottom line, they will intervene one way or another.
Take one example.
When former leader Ma Ying-jeou's administration moved to further integrate Taiwan's economy with the mainland's, a color revolution known as the Sunflower Movement was detonated, with all the fingerprints of the NED and other NGOs forcing the Ma Ying-jeou administration to abort the process.
To be clear, There are voices within the KMT that are against the proposed military budget.
But this is not what happened.
Because there was an impasse over this bill, several cross-party talks were held between the political parties.
The KMT's caucus whip, Fu Kunqi, missed five out of six of these meetings as a protest against the executive branch.
His thinking was quite simple.
If the executive, controlled by the DPP, does not fulfill its constitutional duty to implement the laws passed by the legislative body, then why should I engage in talks to pass the budget you want so badly? So he missed these meetings without designating anyone to act in his absence, which would stall the negotiations indefinitely.
And he's correct.
In the liberal democracy, this is how the checks and balances and all that stuff work.
What he did not expect, though, was for the legislative speaker, you know, the guy who controls the legislative body, Han Kuo-yu, who's also from the KMT, to crash out.
The budget had been stalled for 349 days, and Han Kuo-yu wanted to get it passed as soon as possible.
So he crashed out on camera saying, like, Fu Kunqi should just resign if he's not going to attend these meetings.
And even said, 你敬酒不吃,想吃法酒。 Which literally means, if you refuse a toast, then you will drink from the penalty cup.
It's hard to really translate the sentiment behind it into English, but it's basically like saying, you're asking to do things the hard way before a fistfight.
Then Han Guoyu went on to crash out about how the legislature has been controlled by dark forces.
As the speaker of the legislative body, Han Guoyu is superior to all legislators.
But from the party standpoint, even though Han Guoyu and Fu Kunqi are both from the KMT, Fu Kunqi represents the party and the legislature.
So while the two serve different roles in their official positions, this episode really highlighted some rifts within the party.
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