Taiwan lawmakers approve higher military pay
China claims Taiwan is part of its territory and has not ruled out using force to bring the self-ruled island under its control.
The main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party and Taiwan People's Party passed amendments to an armed forces pay act granting volunteer service members an additional monthly allowance of NT$30,000 (US$1,000).
The law previously did not specify the exact amount for allowances.
It is on top of increases announced by President Lai Ching-te in March.
'The armed forces are facing new types of operational needs… allowances should be increased to reflect the sharp rise in unit duties and training frequency,' the KMT said in the document outlining the proposed changes.
'By significantly raising allowances and adding an adjustment mechanism, the aim is to improve recruitment incentives and retain outstanding talent.'
Other changes passed by lawmakers Tuesday were for conscripts to receive no less than the minimum wage, additional pay for combat units and overtime.
Premier Cho Jung-tai, who belongs to the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, said the government would challenge the amendments after the cabinet was not consulted as required by the budget act.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South China Morning Post
3 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
US-India trade talks seen unlikely to produce deal by August 1 deadline
Months of intense negotiations appear unlikely to produce a trade deal between the US and India before the August 1 deadline, despite US President Donald Trump having teased one for months as 'coming soon', according to three people familiar with the situation. One person described the current state of discussions as a 'total mess' behind the scenes as Trump and his trade representative, Jameison Greer, continue to push for a pact that would secure greater market access for American produce, dairy, and poultry in India. 'Despite bullish comments by India's trade minister, securing a deal by August 1 seems nearly impossible', said Rick Rossow, chair in US-India Policy Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank. He said that while 'negotiations seemed to move pretty fast in the early days', the closing stages are 'always the most difficult'. Indian Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh on Thursday told the Indian Parliament that negotiations with the US were 'active' and revolved around 'enhanced mutual market access, reduction of tariffs and non-tariff barriers and closer integration of supply chains'. Rajesh Agarwal, India's chief negotiator and Commerce Department special secretary, was in Washington last week for trade talks but the July 14-17 negotiation ended without any announcement.
South China Morning Post
7 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
China on Thai-Cambodian conflict; Taiwan recall vote: SCMP daily highlights
Catch up on some of SCMP's biggest China stories of the day. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing China and Europe should foster a 'healthy' economic relationship characterised by both competition and cooperation, the Chinese premier told European Union leaders and businesses on Thursday. China will continue to play a 'constructive role' in helping to ease regional tensions, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Friday, as Thai and Cambodian troops exchanged fire on their border for a second day. Chinese researchers have manufactured the world's largest barium gallium selenide (BGSe) crystal, a breakthrough that could pave the way for ultra-high-power laser weapons capable of zapping satellites from the ground.
South China Morning Post
12 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Why Trump is attacking China's dominance in humble graphite
Whatever it's been called – plumbago, black-cawke, wadd, black-lead – through century after century, graphite has been nothing if not humble. Last week, the United States slapped a 93.5 per cent duty on graphite imports from China. Share prices soared for graphite miners outside China, from Australia to Canada and South Korea. For some exporters, Trump's tariffs are not an ill wind. The drama comes down to the global surge in the electric vehicle (EV) market, and the humble but essential role played by graphite in lithium-ion batteries. Graphite will never play a more important role, it seems, than in the battery anodes of the future, whether in EVs, solar and wind energy storage, or smartphones. Before the US storm over Chinese graphite blew up, I had a serendipitous encounter this summer with graphite – that greasy, black, slippery, uncharismatic carbon cousin to diamonds. I never expected that a holiday soaking up the charms of Britain's bucolic Lake District would alert me not just to the long and largely unnoticed history of graphite, but to its diverse and dual-use properties that drew more parallels between 16th century England and US President Donald Trump's national security obsessions than I could have imagined. The first records of graphite coming from the Seathwaite Mine in Borrowdale in the Lake District date back to the 1550s. It is still talked of as the world's only large graphite deposit found in a solid form, which allowed it to be cut into sticks. At first employed by Lake District farmers to mark their sheep, graphite's use soon proliferated. It was used to rustproof cooking stoves, in glazing pots and as a lubricant in ships' rigging. Mixed with wine or ale, it was also used medicinally to treat colic and gallstones, though its effect remains open to question. What made graphite critical was its use as a separating layer in iron moulds. This enabled Queen Elizabeth I and her navy to produce smooth, high-quality cannonballs that likely played a part in her crushing defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588. Who would have thought that graphite could be so indispensable to national security? Because of the strategic importance of graphite, the Seathwaite Mine was taken over by the Crown, and guardhouses were constructed around the mine to protect its resources – a 16th century version of export control that I am sure both Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump's tariff warriors would appreciate.
