After former US president Donald Trump said that Taiwan should devote 10 percent of its GDP to the defense budget, lawmakers, political commentators and military experts said that he was imposing a difficult demand on Taiwan and no states focused on maintaining a strong military would have the capability to do it.
Radio talk show host Huang Wei-han (黃暐瀚) on Facebook yesterday said that Saudi Arabia has the highest national defense budget at 6.6 percent of GDP, with Israel coming in second at 5.2 percent.
The US dedicates 2.5 percent of its GDP to military expenditure, he said
Photo: AFP
Taiwan would have to spend NT$2.6 trillion (US$81.7 billion) per year on the defense budget to meet Trump’s demand, even though it only has a total annual budget of NT$3 trillion, he added.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lee Yen-hsiu (李彥秀) said that Trump’s comments showed that he and his staffers’ understanding of Taiwan’s finances is far removed from reality.
Cross-strait relations are regressing, but the state has limited resources to distribute, she said.
Taiwan is not averse to spending money for its protection, but when the money has been spent, and the promised arms packages are repeatedly delayed, the public begins to question such expenses, she said.
Taiwan should prepare for the possible outbreak of war and seek alternative solutions to ensure that war is avoided, she added.
KMT Legislator Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇) criticized the government for its meekness and silence, saying that while Taiwan would continue to work with the US, it should not allow such misguided notions to become mainstream as it would negatively impact the nation.
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Legislator Lin Yi-chun (林憶君) said Trump’s comments were just exaggerated talk geared toward boosting support for his presidential bid.
She said that Taiwan has limited resources and cautioned against hiking defense spending, as such a policy would not be to the benefit of the public.
Taiwan must consider how to rely on its own military forces to deter foreign aggression, Lin said.
The TPP’s stance on cross-strait issues is that Tawain should be prepared, capable and would not shy away from war, but it should not be actively bellicose.
Association of Strategic Foresight researcher Chieh Chung (揭仲) on Tuesday said that Trump’s unrealistic 10 percent defense spending demonstrated his unfamiliarity with the nation’s finances.
Chieh said that Taiwan’s GDP for next year is estimated at NT$26 trillion, 10 percent of which would comprise 84 percent of the nation’s expected annual expenditure of NT$3.13 trillion.
The increase would be six times the budgeted defense spending for next year, currently set at NT$476 billion, and would leave the government in deficit after paying the wages of civil servants, he said.
Chieh said that the defense budget has been boosted due to the Sea-Air Combat Power Improvement Plan Purchase Special Regulation (海空戰力提升計畫採購特別條例) and the Special Act on the Procurement of Updated Fighter Jets (新式戰機採購特別條例).
If Trump wins the US presidential election on Nov. 5, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration would have to consider increasing military spending without undermining the overall budget, Chieh said.
Kuma Academy chief executive officer Ho Cheng-hui (何澄輝) on Tuesday said that Trump’s comments likely originate from Elbridge Colby, a senior defense official in his administration.
Colby expressed similar sentiments in an op-ed titled “Taiwan must get serious on defense,” in the Taipei Times on May 11.
“Given the massive disparity in military power in the Taiwan Strait, spending 5 percent of its GDP on defense should be the floor for Taiwan. Indeed, if its security and autonomy are at stake, why not spend 10 percent?” he wrote.
Ho said there is a consensus that Taiwan should increase its defense spending, but it should be a planned and incremental increase rather than a sudden spike that would jeopardize other government spending.
Additional reporting by Lin Che-yuan
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS