Although Taipei’s increase in defense spending is vital to garnering support from the US and the rest of the world amid security threats, the nation’s budget still falls short, a former US military official said on Wednesday.
Taiwan boosting its defense spending sends an important signal to the world, including the US, former acting US secretary of the army John Whitley told a Taipei forum on “The Ukraine war and its impact on cross-strait relations.”
However, Taiwan’s national defense spending, which now constitutes 2.5 percent of GDP, remains significantly lower than the levels the US allocated during the Cold War and also lags behind present US defense expenditure (of 3.5 percent last year), Whitley said.
Ministry of National Defense data showed that Taiwan’s annual defense spending has been on the rise since President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) took office in 2016, with the government proposing a national defense budget of NT$606.8 billion (US$18.76 billion) for next year.
Citing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as saying: “I need ammunition, not a ride,” Whitley asked whether Taiwan was prepared to engage in the type of advocacy Zelenskiy did in his bid to garner support for Ukraine.
To achieve this level of support, Taiwan should seek to bolster awareness about the country’s significance among the US public, Whitley said.
Taipei should seek to make sure that the US public understands, from a security perspective, the effect the loss of Taiwan would have on the Pacific and global trade, he said.
“It would be devastating for our national security,” he added.
Royal United Services Institute senior fellow Jack Watling said that Ukraine’s resistance depended on its allies mobilizing, which was enabled by a judgement that it was necessary to defend Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
That mobilization was also possible because Ukraine was seen to be a credible investment, Watling said.
Ukraine looked like it could resist and Ukrainians “made very clear that they were determined to fight and the optics of that mattered,” he said.
“A crucial aspect of Taiwan’s strategy should be mobilizing the international community to ensure an early and decisive response, while also recognizing the challenges of being resupplied in a timely manner,” he said.
Another vital takeaway from the war in Ukraine is that the Ukrainian training system failed to produce an adequate number of troops capable of operating at a certain level, which resulted in the counteroffensive falling short of its objectives, he said.
The ability to resist comes down to the determination and skill of military personnel and it is vital that these people are empowered to operate effectively, Watling said.
While many seek technological solutions to address threats, the importance of military personnel should not be underestimated, he added.
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