Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te has announced a pay rise for frontline combat units, but the dispute between the Legislative Yuan and the Executive Yuan over budget powers has been reopened — good news for rank-and-file soldiers, and fresh fuel for the fight between the Blue and Green camps.

• Lai Ching-te announced a new "Category Three Combat Unit Allowance," under which officers and enlisted personnel in combat units at brigade level and below will receive an additional NT$4,000 per month, backdated to take effect on 1 July this year.
• Kuomintang legislator Hsu Chiao-hsin said she supports the pay rise, but stressed that it is not the same as raising the volunteer service allowance to NT$30,000 as stipulated in the Act Governing the Remuneration of Armed Forces Personnel, which passed its third reading in the Legislative Yuan.
• Hsu Chiao-hsin said she would continue to demand that the Executive Yuan implement that act as required by law.
• Lawyer Lin Chih-chun countered that drawing up the budget falls under the authority of the Executive Yuan, and that the Legislative Yuan can only review and cut it, not increase the budget itself through legislation. He criticised Hsu Chiao-hsin as "a legal illiterate serving as a legislator."
• Lin Chih-chun argued that the Public Officials Election and Recall Act should require legislators to first pass a basic law test.

Outlook: The controversy over whether the volunteer service allowance should be raised to NT$30,000 will not be settled any time soon, and the dispute over budget powers will carry over into the next round of budget review.