Lai Ching-te expresses shock over massive culture budget cuts, vows unwavering support

Under Taiwan's current political and economic circumstances, the review of the central government's annual general budget is often the most intense battlefield of struggle between the executive and legislative branches. During recent Legislative Yuan deliberations on the central government's general budget, the budget compiled by the Ministry of Culture was significantly cut and frozen by opposition lawmakers, sparking high-level concern from the arts and cultural sector as well as the administrative team. Facing the severe challenge of national cultural development resources being substantially compressed by the Legislative Yuan, President Lai Ching-te publicly stated his astonishment today at the legislature's massive budget cuts and freezes. At the same time, however, he offered reassurance to the public, emphasizing that the government will absolutely not halt its support for culture as a result. Instead, the government will increase its efforts to promote various cultural policies amid adversity, demonstrating the ruling team's firm determination to safeguard Taiwan's cultural subjectivity.

As the nation's highest legislative organ, the Legislative Yuan holds the constitutional power to review, cut, and freeze the budgets of ministries and departments under the Executive Yuan. However, the compilation and reduction of budgets often reflect the value conflicts of different political parties regarding national development priorities. The Ministry of Culture is responsible for such vital tasks as the preservation of national cultural assets, the fostering of film, television, and music industries, the subsidization of arts and cultural workers, and international cultural exchanges. Most of these operations possess long-term, public, and intangible values, making it difficult to see immediate economic returns in the short term. The Legislative Yuan's heavy-handed cuts to the Ministry of Culture's budget this time will not only affect the ministry's daily operations and the promotion of established policies, but may also directly impact the livelihoods of grassroots arts groups and creators, triggering anxiety and concern within the cultural community over national cultural budgets being affected by political infighting.

Despite facing the grim reality of the budget being cut and frozen, President Lai Ching-te still made a comprehensive and forward-looking policy declaration regarding cultural development while attending a public event today. He clearly pointed out that although the budget obstacles are astonishing, the ruling team's determination to promote Taiwan's cultural development will not be discounted. He further proposed four core dimensions to outline Taiwan's future cultural blueprint. The first is "deepening the future tense of local subjectivity," which means the government will continue to deepen Taiwan's native historical memory and diverse cultural heritage, allowing culture to take root in this land. The second is to strengthen the competitiveness and sustainability of the cultural industry through resource integration and policy innovation, ensuring that Taiwan culture retains its unique identity and autonomous development capacity when facing the shocks of globalization.

The cultural development blueprint expounded by the President is not only a positive response to the budget controversy, but also conveys to all sectors of society the Democratic Progressive Party government's core values regarding cultural governance. In the process of democratic transition and the construction of national identity, culture has always been an important bridge for forging social consensus and demonstrating Taiwan's subjectivity. When the budget of the Ministry of Culture is substantially cut and frozen by the Legislative Yuan, it essentially depletes the nation's soft power. Lai Ching-te chose to high-profile reiterate the direction of cultural policy at this time with the intention of consolidating consensus within the ruling party and civil society, signaling to the parliament and the public that cultural development is not merely an administrative matter at the ministry level, but a strategic foundation for national survival and development. The government has the responsibility to find breakthroughs under limited resources to ensure that the cultural lifeline is not interrupted by the disturbances of party politics.

From the perspective of macroscopic political and social impact, the incident of the Ministry of Culture's budget being cut and frozen highlights the fundamental divergence between ruling and opposition parties in the allocation of national resources, and also tests the Executive Yuan's policy communication ability under the Legislative Yuan's gridlock structure where the ruling party is the minority. How to maintain the momentum of promoting cultural policies through cross-ministerial coordination, the introduction of private resources, or the reallocation of existing resources under circumstances where the budget is strictly reviewed or even cut by the Legislative Yuan will be an important test for the Ministry of Culture in the foreseeable future. The President's public backing and the declaration of the four core dimensions, aside from serving political signaling and reassuring functions, also set the tone for the administrative team's subsequent budget defense and policy implementation, ensuring that Taiwan's pace of cultural development can still move forward firmly while facing the dual pincer attacks of external pressure and internal political strife.

(Source of Facts: Central News Agency)