Taiwan's parliament has stopped paying for legislators' foreign trips after its own budget cuts drained the travel fund — bad for Taiwan's efforts to build ties abroad at a moment when China is squeezing it diplomatically.

• The legislature's secretary-general told all lawmakers that money for group trips by parliamentary friendship associations has run out, and applications are no longer accepted.
• The cause: an across-the-board 30% cut to government foreign travel budgets that lawmakers themselves approved this year.
• The ruling DPP calls it self-inflicted, blaming opposition parties for dragging out the budget until only a few months were left to spread the money over.
• Lawmakers who lead these friendship groups warn that overseas visits are one of Taiwan's few ways to assert sovereignty and raise its international profile.

Outlook: With the new session opening at the end of September — usually the busiest stretch for travel — legislators will either pay their own way or cancel trips.