K-M-T Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun says the Cabinet's proposed 1.25-trillion N-T
special defense budget should only be approved only after Taiwan receives a
formal Letter of Offer and Acceptance from the United States.

Speaking in an interview with online news outlet C-NEWS, Cheng criticized the
Cabinet's proposal as a "blank check" - arguing it lacks sufficient detail
on how most of the funds will be spent.

According to Cheng, the K-M-T supports passing an initial 380-billion N-T
defense budget, which would be sufficient to cover the 11.1-billion U-S
dollars in arms packages approved for sale to Taiwan by Washington in
December of last year.

Cheng says an additional 400-billion N-T could then be considered if a second
round of Letter of Offer and Acceptance is issued - but without that
documentation, there's concerns any extra funding could be misused by the Lai
administration.

Lawmakers failed to reach a consensus once again on the Cabinet's special
defense budget bill on Monday of this week during the latest round of
cross-party negotiations.

Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu has scheduled another round negotiations on
the bill for May 6.