Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry proposes its most secretive budget in six years

Taiwan: According to Taipei Times, Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has put out its largest secret budget in six years, totaling TWD (New Taiwan Dollar) 1,821,387,000 (USD 56.71 million) for the next year.

According to the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center, this is a notable increase of TWD 634.669 million, or 53.48 percent, over the TWD 1,186,718,000 from the current year. The suggested budget is TWD 1,070,230,000 more than the TWD 751,157,000 in secret expenditure from the previous year, or 142.48 percent higher.

Calls for more openness about how this money is being used have been triggered by the increase.

The planned budget would be the biggest in six years and will make up 6.01 percent of the Ministry’s overall yearly budget. According to the Taipei Times, the planned sum for next year is the most significant, notwithstanding changes in the secret budgets since 2020.

According to Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the distribution of these funds will adhere to the Classified National Security Information Protection Act’s Enforcement Rules, which specify the circumstances in which government data may be classified in order to prevent “exceptionally grave damage” or “serious damage.”

These circumstances include those that jeopardize the government’s ability to negotiate, maintain diplomatic contacts, or use intelligence.

The opacity of the Ministry’s secret budget, however, has drawn criticism from the Budget Centre. The center emphasized that the ministry should disclose its spending in order to allow for public review, in accordance with the concept of government information openness.

According to the Taipei Times, this will guarantee that government resources are appropriately managed, watched over, and that public funds are used sensibly.

The center also noted that the Ministry has not yet declassified numerous papers, despite last year’s modifications to the Classified National Security Material Protection Act forbidding the indefinite classification of material.

Only 2,663 of the Ministry’s 47,978 classified publications that were categorized before 2003 have been reallocated, meaning that the bulk have remained concealed for more than 17 years.