Brian Hioeby Brian Hioe
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Photo Credit: Chi-Hung Lin/WikiCommons/CC BY-SA 3.0
THE KMT HAS been criticized regarding disaster relief funding after Typhoon Danas struck Taiwan, primarily affecting areas such as Chiayi, Tainan, and Yunlin. Agricultural losses are estimated at over 1 billion NT, leading to the activation of emergency relief measures, loan-interest loan programs, and suspension of inspections. Farmers can also submit proof of damage using an app provided by the Ministry of Agriculture.
In particular, Rosalia Wu of the DPP criticized the KMT for slashing the special income fund of the Ministry of Agriculture. In response, KMT legislator Chang Chia-chun defended that the special income fund is for dealing with overproduction, rather than the impact on farmers from natural disasters, and accused the DPP of attempting to mislead.
At the same time, the KMT originally intended to cut the budget of the Ministry of Agriculture to 1 NT as part of its original slate of budget cuts. This seems to be part of the scorched earth approach that the KMT took to budget cuts, in targeting institutions that it did not control and seeking to slash the budget as a whole.
This is not the first time that similar contestation about the KMT’s budget cuts earlier this year broke out when Taiwan was impacted by unforeseen events. When tariffs threatened by the Trump administration posed a threat to Taiwanese industry, the KMT proposed restoring funds it had previously cut or frozen, leading to criticisms from the DPP that it had reversed course and that its previous budget cuts were undertaken without much thought as to what aspects of Taiwanese society would be impacted.
Indeed, whether previously or this time, the DPP has framed the KMT as seeking to seize control of the budget and take credit for any financial relief that occurs afterward from the government. This would be a means of seeking to politically profit from disasters.
More broadly, it proved somewhat surprising that the KMT would cut funding to agriculture, in that agriculture was long seen as an industry that favored the KMT. This is due to the clientelist and patronage networks that once existed during the authoritarian period, inclusive of that the KMT carried out political retribution during this period against farmers who refused their will. Farmers often feared that fields would quite literally dry up if they voted against the KMT, or that they would be shut out of the farmers’ associations that distribute produce for sale.
To this extent, the DPP has moved to nationalize irrigation networks and farmers’ associations, in order to break the stranglehold that such institutions had over farmers. In turn, the KMT has accused the DPP of simply seeking to control agriculture. Calling for cutting the budget of the Ministry of Agriculture to a mere 1 NT may be further retribution from the KMT against an industry that they feel belongs to them.
The agricultural sector is politically significant in Taiwan, despite its limited size. It is thought that the Chinese government, too, has sought to politically pressure the agricultural sector in occasionally banning Taiwanese products. This may be an attempt to induce the agricultural sector to vote KMT. While such actions led to demands for the Taiwanese government to step in a provide relief for the agricultural sector, it is also possible that periodic retaliation by China against Taiwanese farmers has caused China to be viewed as a politically risky market, in which one may be arbitrarily targeted.
This has dovetailed with efforts by the Tsai and Lai administrations to strengthen agricultural ties between Taiwan and regional powers that also face threats from China, such as Japan or the Philippines. Likewise, one notes that there are younger farmers who have built brands on Taiwan-focused products and are more cautious of China, have increasingly become well-known as public figures, perhaps pointing to the changing dynamics of the field. It is possible that agriculture, as a field, is shifting politically.
It is to be seen how back-and-forth about relief for farmers in the wake of Typhoon Danas affects the recalls, then. Recall voting is set for July 26th.