Taiwan's parliament approves US$25 billion defence spending bill
The result was announced by the parliamentary speaker after a final vote on the bill, which falls well short of the government's proposed budget of nearly US$40 billion.
· CNA · JoinRead a summary of this article on FAST.
Get bite-sized news via a new
cards interface. Give it a try.
Click here to return to FAST Tap here to return to FAST
FAST
TAIPEI: Taiwan's parliament on Friday (May 8) approved a US$25 billion defence spending bill that opposition lawmakers say will be used for US weapons, following months of political wrangling.
The result was announced by the parliamentary speaker after a final vote on the bill, which falls well short of the government's proposed budget of nearly US$40 billion.
Taiwanese lawmakers have been at loggerheads over how much to spend on improving defence capabilities against a potential attack by China, which claims the island is part of its territory and has threatened to forcibly seize it.
The Kuomintang (KMT), which is Taiwan's biggest opposition party and favours closer ties with China, as well as the Taiwan People's Party (TPP), announced Friday they would be willing to raise their defence spending proposal to NT$780 billion (US$25 billion) for US arms only.
CNA Games
Guess Word
Crack the word, one row at a time
Buzzword
Create words using the given letters
Mini Sudoku
Tiny puzzle, mighty brain teaser
Mini Crossword
Small grid, big challenge
Word Search
Spot as many words as you can
Show More
Show Less
The KMT and the TPP control Taiwan's 113-seat parliament. Only 107 lawmakers were present for the vote, which passed with 59 in favour.
President Lai Ching-te's government has proposed spending NT$1.25 trillion on defence purchases, including US arms as well as Taiwan-made drones and other weapons.
The special funds would be spread out over eight years and would be in addition to normal defence spending that is included in the government's annual budget.
Lawmaker Chen Kuan-ting, who belongs to Lai's Democratic Progressive Party, accused KMT leaders of "trying to disarm Taiwan" by excluding domestic procurement from the budget.
"If we restrict ourselves only to US arms purchases, then if one day Taiwan is encircled, Taiwan is blockaded, how are we going to maintain our ammunition supply and how are we going to sustain our combat capacity?" Chen said.
KMT lawmaker Hsu Chiao-hsin said the party supported "reasonable defence buildup and arms procurement", but could not "accept lumping together arms sales, commercial purchases, and commissioned production".
Months of fighting have left the KMT deeply divided, with the party's chairperson Cheng Li-wun - who has drawn criticism from inside and outside the KMT for being too pro-China - pushing for the allocation of NT$380 billion for US weapons, with the option for more acquisitions.
MISSILES AND ARTILLERY
As pressure from the United States - Taiwan's most important security backer - mounted, however, senior KMT lawmakers demanded a much higher budget than the one initially proposed by the party.
Taiwan's parliament previously gave the government a green light to sign US agreements for four weapons deals, even though funding for these and other arms had not yet been approved.
The weapons - M109A7 self-propelled howitzers, Javelin anti-armour missiles, TOW 2B missiles and High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) - account for nearly US$9 billion of the US$11.1 billion arms package announced by Washington in December.
The KMT was "willing to fully support" a second phase of arms sales worth more than US$15 billion that the defence ministry has told lawmakers would include "Patriot missiles, Hellfire (missiles), and related counter-drone defence systems", party caucus leader Fu Kun-chi told a press conference before the vote.
The result was a "huge blow to Lai", said Lev Nachman, a political science professor at National Taiwan University.
"This is much less than (his) proposed budget, but it is still greater than zero," he said.
Taiwan analyst Wen-Ti Sung said the KMT had shown just enough commitment to US-Taiwan security cooperation to "silence doubters" of the party, including in Washington, but "not too much to ruffle feathers in Beijing".
It comes days before US President Donald Trump is due to arrive in Beijing for a summit with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, who has warned the US against sending more weapons to Taiwan.
Cheng recently went to China, where she met with Xi, and she has expressed hopes to travel to the United States in June.
Newsletter
Week in Review
Subscribe to our Chief Editor’s Week in Review
Our chief editor shares analysis and picks of the week's biggest news every Saturday.
Newsletter
Morning Brief
Subscribe to CNA’s Morning Brief
An automated curation of our top stories to start your day.
Sign up for our newsletters
Get our pick of top stories and thought-provoking articles in your inbox
Get the CNA app
Stay updated with notifications for breaking news and our best stories
Get WhatsApp alerts
Join our channel for the top reads for the day on your preferred chat app