Sports Minister Lee Yang Cuts 300 Million NTD from Association Budgets, Hopes for Future Institutionalization via Guidelines [Interview]
Taiwan's Sports Minister Lee Yang has cut approximately 300 million NTD from sports associations' budgets by eliminating unreasonable expenses, pledging to introduce strict guidelines to systematize future funding.
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- 📰 Published: April 22, 2026 at 09:48
- 🔍 Collected: April 22, 2026 at 10:01 (13 min after Published)
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: April 22, 2026 at 10:09 (7 min after Collected)
(CNA reporter Li Chien-chung, Taipei, 22nd) Having been in office for over seven months, Sports Minister Lee Yang revealed that he has cut approximately 300 million New Taiwan Dollars in budgets. He emphasized: "It is not a concept of a flat cut across the board, but rather discovering too many unreasonable budget entries. I hope that in the future, by following guidelines, every association can become institutionalized."
Sports Minister Lee Yang officially took office on September 9 last year. In the more than seven months since, he has actively promoted various policies and discovered that the biggest problem lies in the fact that there is much room for improvement in how single-sport associations allocate their budgets.
Lee Yang stated that transitioning from an athlete to a minister, he has attended many meetings since taking office. "I just felt that today, since we finally managed to establish a second-level ministry like this, shouldn't we take a closer look at our past shortcomings? This is ultimately a good thing for the entire sports environment."
"What surprised me the most was that in the past, we often had one-off budget proposals for 300 to 500 million, yet there might only be three committee members reviewing it, and all of them were sports insiders. I thought to myself, how can we properly gatekeep these matters this way?" Therefore, he demanded that review committee members must possess backgrounds in law, sports professionalism, or finance, and each case must be jointly reviewed by at least 3 to 4 externally hired committee members.
Lee Yang also revealed that he had seen a certain unit budget two identical entries for "internet fees," and some are still budgeting for "pandemic prevention expenses" today. These are merely a small fraction of the numerous problems.
Of course, Lee Yang is not painting everyone with the same brush; for expenses that are underfunded, he also proposes increases. "For instance, earlier, a certain association only budgeted 1,200 NTD for sign language translation fees. I asked, couldn't this be budgeted up to 1,700 NTD? The other party replied that it had always been this way in the past. That's why I believe what should be paid must be paid in full."
Lee Yang emphasized that it does not mean all funds and budgets are uniformly cut. "It's just that today, if I am asked to sign my name, I must take responsibility for this money, so I need to strictly gatekeep it. Only in this way will I feel that Taiwan sports have hope." He cited as an example that associations with well-functioning operations and high policy compliance will be recognized and supported through increased subsidy funds.
He also mentioned that next, the Ministry of Sports will issue a set of guidelines. If any sports association or organization is unclear about something, they should allocate their budgets according to these guidelines. "At least everyone will know what money can be budgeted for and what cannot."
Speaking about cutting budgets, Lee Yang said with deep emotion: "Facing these things, sometimes I feel very frustrated at night. After all, there were many excellent predecessors before me. I am not saying I am particularly amazing, but having this belief, since I have chosen to do it, I must carry it through to the end." (Editor: Lung Po-an)
Sports Minister Lee Yang officially took office on September 9 last year. In the more than seven months since, he has actively promoted various policies and discovered that the biggest problem lies in the fact that there is much room for improvement in how single-sport associations allocate their budgets.
Lee Yang stated that transitioning from an athlete to a minister, he has attended many meetings since taking office. "I just felt that today, since we finally managed to establish a second-level ministry like this, shouldn't we take a closer look at our past shortcomings? This is ultimately a good thing for the entire sports environment."
"What surprised me the most was that in the past, we often had one-off budget proposals for 300 to 500 million, yet there might only be three committee members reviewing it, and all of them were sports insiders. I thought to myself, how can we properly gatekeep these matters this way?" Therefore, he demanded that review committee members must possess backgrounds in law, sports professionalism, or finance, and each case must be jointly reviewed by at least 3 to 4 externally hired committee members.
Lee Yang also revealed that he had seen a certain unit budget two identical entries for "internet fees," and some are still budgeting for "pandemic prevention expenses" today. These are merely a small fraction of the numerous problems.
Of course, Lee Yang is not painting everyone with the same brush; for expenses that are underfunded, he also proposes increases. "For instance, earlier, a certain association only budgeted 1,200 NTD for sign language translation fees. I asked, couldn't this be budgeted up to 1,700 NTD? The other party replied that it had always been this way in the past. That's why I believe what should be paid must be paid in full."
Lee Yang emphasized that it does not mean all funds and budgets are uniformly cut. "It's just that today, if I am asked to sign my name, I must take responsibility for this money, so I need to strictly gatekeep it. Only in this way will I feel that Taiwan sports have hope." He cited as an example that associations with well-functioning operations and high policy compliance will be recognized and supported through increased subsidy funds.
He also mentioned that next, the Ministry of Sports will issue a set of guidelines. If any sports association or organization is unclear about something, they should allocate their budgets according to these guidelines. "At least everyone will know what money can be budgeted for and what cannot."
Speaking about cutting budgets, Lee Yang said with deep emotion: "Facing these things, sometimes I feel very frustrated at night. After all, there were many excellent predecessors before me. I am not saying I am particularly amazing, but having this belief, since I have chosen to do it, I must carry it through to the end." (Editor: Lung Po-an)