Taiwan’s Cabinet on Thursday proposed an additional 145.7 billion Taiwanese dollars ($4.59 billion) in defense spending this year, including for systems such as drones and ballistic missile interception capabilities.
The Taiwanese government has made defense modernization and increased spending key pillars of its policy amid growing military pressure from China, which views the democratically governed island as its own territory.
New systems and previous decisions
In May, Taiwan’s opposition-controlled parliament approved additional defense spending of 25 billion Taiwanese dollars (about $788 million), roughly two-thirds of the amount the government had sought in a special budget. These funds were allocated solely for U.S. weapons, not domestic systems.
In a statement after its weekly meeting, the Cabinet said “there can be no gaps in national defense”, and that plans originally envisioned in the previous special budget are now being included in this year’s new additional budget.
Among the systems to be procured, the Cabinet listed a mid-tier system for intercepting tactical ballistic missiles. Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense had previously said this refers to the domestically developed Strong Bow missile.
The spending plans also include more than 600 drones for coastal surveillance and reconnaissance, over 40,000 shore-based attack drones, and the first batch of more than 100 small unmanned kamikaze speedboats.
“National security cannot wait, the defense budget cannot wait, and self-reliance in defense cannot wait,” the Cabinet said.
Long-term plans and the president’s stance
Last month, parliament approved a six-year drone spending plan worth 240 billion Taiwanese dollars (about $7.56 billion), designed to allocate 40 billion Taiwanese dollars (about $1.26 billion) annually. A competing government plan for 210 billion Taiwanese dollars (about $6.61 billion) was rejected.
For next year, the government has proposed that total defense spending exceed 1 trillion Taiwanese dollars (about $31.5 billion) for the first time. Taiwan, like U.S. allies in Europe and other regions, faces calls from Washington to increase spending on its own defense.
President Lai Ching-te has strongly backed the spending increases. He rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims, stating that only the island’s people can decide their future.
Source: Yahoo
