The Executive Yuan has agreed to countersign the new national defense drone law, a move the Kuomintang (KMT) regards as a belated concession while criticizing the Cabinet for selectively blocking other bills — bad news, it says, for constitutional governance.

• The Executive Yuan said national defense security and industrial upgrading cannot wait, and it has therefore countersigned the Act for Strengthening Defense Self-Reliance and Developing the Unmanned Vehicle Industry passed by the Legislative Yuan.
• The KMT's version allocates NT$240 billion over six years, more than the Cabinet's original plan, and incorporates the Cabinet's procurement of military unmanned vehicles.
• The KMT questioned why the children and youth future accounts scheme, which likewise cleared its third reading, was refused countersignature, saying this amounts to Cho Jung-tai inventing a "super executive veto."
• With only 7,492 babies born in Taiwan in August, the KMT argues that the declining birth rate is equally a national security crisis.
• The KMT called on the Cabinet to seek reconsideration or a constitutional interpretation for bills it has doubts about, rather than using countersignature as a veto tool.

Outlook: Whether the remaining eight bills will be countersigned is set to become the next flashpoint between the ruling and opposition camps, and the constitutional dispute is unlikely to subside any time soon.