KMT Lawmaker Proposes Ambitious Infrastructure Projects for Eastern Taiwan, Raises Concerns over Belt-Road’s Funding from Beijing
In a recent development, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip, Fu Kun-chi, has spearheaded a proposal for high-speed rail, highway through the Easter Taiwan, and a highway traversing the Central Mountain Range to connect the East Coast of Taiwan. The plans, which reportedly lack thorough assessment and planning, aim to complete the projects within 10 years, at an estimated cost of trillions of New Taiwan Dollars or over 150 billion US Dollars.To allay concerns over the impact on the national budget, the proposal suggests that the projects will not require any funding from the central government. This has raised skepticism, as experts argue that without a clear financial self-sufficiency plan or the granting of special privileges, such a massive investment solely focused on eastern Taiwan is highly unlikely to be feasible.The only viable options, according to analysts, would be to either seek private funding from foreign investors or to tap into the resources of China's "Belt and Road Initiative." This has sparked concerns that Taiwan may be inextricably drawn into the "debt trap" of the Belt and Road program, with the initiative being spearheaded by a senior KMT lawmaker.
The proposed projects, if realized, would mark a significant shift in Taiwan's susceptibility to the debt traps associated with China's Belt and Road Initiative, which threatens the integrity of the Indo-Pacific Strategy and the First Island Chain in the Western Pacific. Alarmingly, this initiative is being spearheaded by the Kuomintang (KMT) caucus whip, who recently led his KMT colleagues to China.
GPT-4o與網頁存取媒體報導，立法院國民黨籍黨鞭傅崐萁領銜提案專注花東、穿越中央山脈的高速公路，以及高鐵。沒有計劃、沒有評估，規定10年內完成。又報導經費需要數兆元。為免被質疑破壞國家財政，這樣專注於台灣東部的巨大投資，傳不需要中央出一毛錢。怎麼可能？唯一可能就是向國外金主私募但若無財務自償計劃或賦予特權，根本不可能。剩下就是引入「一帶一路」資金。
台灣開始無法自外於「一帶一路」的債務陷阱，甚至於危及「印太戰略」與西太平洋第一島鏈的完整性，而且發起人竟然是剛訪問中國的國民黨國會黨鞭。