Taiwan proposes an extra $4.6 billion for defence spending this year

Taiwan’s cabinet has proposed an extra T$145.7 billion, or $4.59 billion, for defence spending this year, including money for drones and anti-ballistic missiles.

The cabinet said the supplementary budget would incorporate systems originally sought under an earlier special budget. It described the move as necessary because “there can be no gap in national defence.”

The planned purchases include a medium-tier anti-tactical ballistic missile system, which Taiwan’s defence ministry has previously identified as the domestically developed Strong Bow missile. The package also includes more than 600 coastal surveillance and reconnaissance drones, over 40,000 coastal attack drones and an initial batch of more than 100 small suicide drone boats.

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There can be no gap in national defence.

Taiwan’s government has made military modernisation and higher defence spending a central policy as China increases military pressure on the democratically governed island. Beijing claims Taiwan as its territory, while President Lai Ching-te rejects those sovereignty claims and says the island’s people alone can decide its future.

The proposal follows a parliamentary decision in May to approve T$25 billion in additional defence spending, around two-thirds of the government’s request, and restrict the money to U.S. weapons rather than also funding domestic systems. Parliament also approved a six-year plan last month to spend $240 billion on drones, equivalent in principle to $40 billion a year, while rejecting a competing government proposal worth $210 billion.

For next year, the government has proposed total defence spending of more than $1 trillion for the first time. The cabinet said, “National security cannot wait, the defence budget cannot wait, and defence self-reliance cannot wait either.”

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National security cannot wait, the defence budget cannot wait, and defence self-reliance cannot wait either.