The Executive Yuan yesterday proposed NT$415.1 billion (US$13.75 billion) in defense spending for next year, a double-digit increase from this year that includes funds for new fighter jets, weeks after China staged large-scale military exercises around the nation.
China carried out its largest-ever war games around Taiwan after a visit this month by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The overall defense budget proposed by the Cabinet would increase 13.9 percent year-on-year to a record NT$586.3 billion.
Photo: CNA
That includes an additional NT$108.3 billion for fighter jets and other equipment, as well as “special funds” for the defense ministry.
The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) did not provide a specific breakdown of where the money would go.
The planned defense spending, which is a record high and must be approved by the Legislative Yuan, marks the nation’s sixth consecutive year of growth in defense spending since 2017.
The double-digit rise this year marks a sharp increase compared with its annual growth rate of below 4 percent since 2017.
DGBAS Minister Chu Tzer-ming (朱澤民) said the increase would mainly go to operational costs.
“We always give safety and national security the top priority ... that’s why [the budget for] operational costs has sharply increased,” Chu said, pointing to costs such as fuel and maintenance for aircraft and ships dispatched to counter Chinese military activity near Taiwan.
The Ministry of National Defense (MND) said in a statement that the budget gave full consideration to the “enemy threat” and was equivalent to 2.4 percent of Taiwan’s projected GDP for next year.
“In the face of the Chinese communists’ continuous expansion of targeted military activities in recent years and the normalized use of warships and military aircraft to raid and disturb Taiwan’s surrounding seas and airspace, the military adheres to the principle of preparing for war without seeking war and defending national security with strength,” it said.
Excluding the extra budget for military equipment and funds, the proposed defense spending represents a 12.9 percent year-on-year increase, compared with a 20.8 percent increase in the overall government budget proposed for next year.
The proposed spending would account for 14.6 percent of the government’s total expenditure for next year and is the fourth-largest segment, after social welfare, combined spending on education, science and culture, and economic development.
Taiwan last year announced an extra defense budget of US$8.69 billion by 2026, which comes on top of its yearly military spending, mostly on naval weapons, including missiles and warships.
China has continued its military activities near Taiwan, though on a reduced scale. On Wednesday it announced that live-fire drills would take place in a coastal part of China’s Fujian Province today and on Saturday, just north of the tiny Taiwan-controlled Wuchiu Island (烏坵) in the Taiwan Strait.
Institute for National Defense and Security Research analyst Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲) yesterday said that the MND had included special funds in its calculations of the country’s defense spending in relation to GDP, which is not the typical way such figures are derived.
The government should prioritize defense spending over other considerations in light of the clear and present danger facing the nation, he added.
Countries that face significant external threats to national security — such as Israel and South Korea — typically spend between 2.8 percent and 3.2 percent of their GDP on defense, which shows that Taiwan’s military budget has room for growth, he said.
Specifically, the MND should increase military spending to about NT$480 billion per year and set its sights on eventually using 3 percent of GDP for national defense annually, he said.
“The value of time should be factored into discussions about budget costs,” he said. “If the military does not receive funding when it is needed, we can end up paying more for the lost time.”
Additional reporting by Aaron Tu
Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has died of pneumonia at the age of 48 while on a trip to Japan, where she contracted influenza during the Lunar New Year holiday, her sister confirmed today through an agent. "Our whole family came to Japan for a trip, and my dearest and most kindhearted sister Barbie Hsu died of influenza-induced pneumonia and unfortunately left us," Hsu's sister and talk show hostess Dee Hsu (徐熙娣) said. "I was grateful to be her sister in this life and that we got to care for and spend time with each other. I will always be grateful to
UNITED: The premier said Trump’s tariff comments provided a great opportunity for the private and public sectors to come together to maintain the nation’s chip advantage The government is considering ways to assist the nation’s semiconductor industry or hosting collaborative projects with the private sector after US President Donald Trump threatened to impose a 100 percent tariff on chips exported to the US, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. Trump on Monday told Republican members of the US Congress about plans to impose sweeping tariffs on semiconductors, steel, aluminum, copper and pharmaceuticals “in the very near future.” “It’s time for the United States to return to the system that made us richer and more powerful than ever before,” Trump said at the Republican Issues Conference in Miami, Florida. “They
TAIWAN DEFENSE: The initiative would involve integrating various systems in a fast-paced manner through the use of common software to obstruct a Chinese invasion The first tranche of the US Navy’s “Replicator” initiative aimed at obstructing a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would be ready by August, a US Naval Institute (USNI) News report on Tuesday said. The initiative is part of a larger defense strategy for Taiwan, and would involve launching thousands of uncrewed submarines, surface vessels and aerial vehicles around Taiwan to buy the nation and its partners time to assemble a response. The plan was first made public by the Washington Post in June last year, when it cited comments by US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue
REMINDER: Of the 6.78 million doses of flu vaccine Taiwan purchased for this flu season, about 200,000 are still available, an official said, following Big S’ death As news broke of the death of Taiwanese actress and singer Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛), also known as Big S (大S), from severe flu complications, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and doctors yesterday urged people at high risk to get vaccinated and be alert to signs of severe illness. Hsu’s family yesterday confirmed that the actress died on a family holiday in Japan due to pneumonia during the Lunar New Year holiday. CDC Deputy Director-General Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) told an impromptu news conference that hospital visits for flu-like illnesses from Jan. 19 to Jan. 25 reached 162,352 — the highest
RSS