The three political parties have agreed to put the Executive Yuan's draft
special defense bill and the TPP's caucus version on the Legislative Yuan's
March 6 plenary agenda and refer them for review.

The Legislative Foreign and National Defense Committee and the Finance
Committee will jointly review them.

The move came today when a new Legislative session opened.

President Lai Ching-te yesterday met with the heads of the five branches of
Taiwan's constitutional system, including Legislative Speaker Han Guo-yu at a
tea party at the Presidential Office.

Han said afterward that he had invited Lai to answer questions reagarding key
issues like the special defense bill at the Legislative Yuan, and that Lai
"gladly" accepted.

The Executive Yuan proposed a special NT$1.25 trillion defense bill in
December last year, to be spent over eight years, but the opposition-led
Legislature has repeatedly blocked it from being reviewed, citing a lack of
transparency.

The TPP brought forward its own version of the defense procurement bill early
this year with a budget cap of 400 billion NT.

(CNA JL)