Pledges by President William Lai (賴清德) to increase military spending are an important signal of Taiwan’s commitment to self-defense, former US deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger said at a Halifax International Security Forum event in Taipei (HFX Taipei) yesterday.
Pottinger, who served from 2019 to 2021 during US President Donald Trump’s first term, was referring to Lai’s pledges to boost defense spending to more than 3 percent of GDP.
Lai made the pledges, along with commitments to double down on defense reforms and enhance civil protections, shortly after Trump, speaking with reporters in Washington, accused Taiwan of taking “our chip business away” while threatening tariffs on foreign semiconductors entering the US.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
“It’s really important as a signal to the United States and other countries about Taiwan’s commitment to its defense,” said Pottinger, who chairs the China Program at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
Lai’s plan for a special budget, if successful, would bring Taiwan’s defense expenditure on par with the US’ in terms of share of GDP, Pottinger told HFX Taipei.
Three percent “seems like a good bargain to me,” considering Ukraine’s investment in its fight against Russian troops and the US’ at the peak of the Cold War in the 1980s, he said.
Former US ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert, former Ukrainian parliamentarian Hanna Hopko and Legislator Fan Yun (范雲) also attended HFX Taipei.
Taiwan’s annual defense spending has hovered between 2 and 2.5 percent of GDP since former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) took office in 2016, but it has yet to surpass 3 percent.
It remains to be seen whether Lai’s pledges — which would likely result in Taiwan purchasing more defense articles from the US — will materialize because his party, the DPP, does not have a majority in the legislature and faces a strong backlash from the opposition.
For fiscal 2025, the Cabinet initially earmarked NT$647 billion (US$19.76 billion) for the Ministry of National Defense, or 2.45 percent of GDP.
However, the final appropriation is still uncertain after opposition lawmakers imposed several cuts and freezes during the budget review, some of which might overlap, leaving the executive branch to verify the final figures.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
Prosecutors today declined to say who was questioned regarding alleged forgery on petitions to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, after Chinese-language media earlier reported that members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Youth League were brought in for questioning. The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau confirmed that two people had been questioned, but did not disclose any further information about the ongoing investigation. KMT Youth League members Lee Hsiao-liang (李孝亮) and Liu Szu-yin (劉思吟) — who are leading the effort to recall DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) — both posted on Facebook saying: “I
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has fined Taobao NT$1.2 million (US$36,912) for advertisements that exceed its approved business scope, requiring the Chinese e-commerce platform to make corrections in the first half of this year or its license may be revoked. Lawmakers have called for stricter enforcement of Chinese e-commerce platforms and measures to prevent China from laundering its goods through Taiwan in response to US President Donald Trump’s heavy tariffs on China. The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee met today to discuss policies to prevent China from dumping goods in Taiwan, inviting government agencies to report. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kuo Kuo-wen (郭國文) said
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has fined Taobao NT$1.2 million (US$36,900) for advertisements that exceeded its approved business scope and ordered the Chinese e-commerce platform to make corrections in the first half of this year or its license would be revoked. Lawmakers have called for stricter supervision of Chinese e-commerce platforms and more stringent measures to prevent China from laundering its goods through Taiwan as US President Donald Trump’s administration cracks down on origin laundering. The legislature’s Finance Committee yesterday met to discuss policies to prevent China from dumping goods in Taiwan, inviting government agencies to report on the matter. Democratic Progressive Party
RSS