The KMT-TPP bloc in Taiwan's Legislative Yuan has cut the Presidential Office's state affairs fund, reopening an old dispute — and it is bad news for sheltered workshops and disadvantaged groups.

• The KMT and TPP joined forces to pass a proposal by KMT legislator Weng Hsiao-ling, cutting and freezing the Presidential Office's NT$30 million state affairs fund down to zero.
• As a result, orders for 15,000 Mid-Autumn Festival gift boxes from 37 sheltered workshops across Taiwan have been affected.
• Weng Hsiao-ling countered that Pan Men-an had also proposed cuts in the past; Chang Yu-meng, chairperson of the Taiwan Youth Generations Solidarity Association, called that a fabrication.
• Chang Yu-meng dug up the old record: Ma Ying-jeou raised the state affairs fund from NT$30 million to NT$40 million in 2009 without justification, and only in 2012 announced he would "cut NT$10 million himself" — yet not a cent was cut in the budget document, which was why the DPP proposed a measure to make him honour the pledge.
• From before Ma Ying-jeou left office through the Tsai Ing-wen and Lai Ching-te administrations, the fund has been budgeted at NT$30 million for 12 consecutive years, with 60 percent used to reward military and police personnel and Presidential Office staff, and 40 percent going to disadvantaged groups.

Outlook: With this budget zeroed out, the Presidential Office's practice of buying festival gift boxes from sheltered workshops will be hard to sustain, and the clash between the blue and green camps is unlikely to subside any time soon.