Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) caucus whip and party Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday announced the TPP’s version of a special national defense bill, which would allocate NT$400 billion (US$12.7 billion) for various weapons systems.
The announcement comes amid an impasse over a special defense budget introduced by the Executive Yuan in November last year totaling NT$1.25 trillion, which the opposition TPP and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) have repeatedly refused to review at the legislature.
The TPP version of the bill would limit purchases to 60 M109A self-propelled howitzers, 82 HIMARS multiple rocket launcher systems, 70 Javelin anti-tank missile systems, 24 TOW-2B anti-tank missile systems and anti-armor uncrewed aerial vehicle missile systems.
Photo: CNA
Within the NT$400 billion ceiling, the TPP proposal includes an additional NT$88.1 billion to address government assessments of urgent needs to rapidly enhance combat capabilities, which could be used upon obtaining consent from foreign governments.
TPP caucus director Vicky Chen (陳智菡) said the proposal focuses on clearly itemizing procurement categories, quantities and amounts, rationalizing the scale of the budget, shifting to annual appropriations and requiring regular special reports on procurement progress to enhance oversight and transparency.
“Taiwanese have never regarded freedom as free, but how could national security be strengthened if defense budgets are allocated and paid for while equipment fails to arrive on schedule?” Huang said.
During former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration, two special military bills were proposed, including a NT$247.2 billion special budget for F-16V jets, of which NT$143.4 billion was spent but “zero” aircraft were delivered, he said.
“Budget figures alone do not guarantee improvements in combat capability. Arms procurement should be handled in a strategic and militarily professional way to ensure stable policy direction and force development,” Huang said.
Security conditions in the Taiwan Strait have deteriorated in the past few years, with China continuing to exert institutionalized and routine military pressure on Taiwan through joint exercises, live-fire drills and “gray zone” operations, he said.
“In the face of complex threats, building a defense system with effective deterrence, dispersed survivability and sustainable combat capabilities has become an urgent task for Taiwan’s defense policy,” Huang said.
The TPP proposal seeks to ensure that every dollar of defense spending aligns with strategic objectives, effectiveness assessments and democratic deliberation, he said.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus chief executive Chung Chia-pin (鍾佳濱) yesterday said that defense procurement is a highly classified administrative process that must be led through negotiations among executive agencies.
As such, it is essentially impossible for any political party or the legislature to independently propose a special military procurement budget, he said, adding that the DPP caucus believes deliberations should be based on the Executive Yuan’s version and subjected to legislative scrutiny.
Separately, the Institute for National Defense and Security Research’s Division of Defense Strategy and Resources director Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲) said lawmakers have the right to express differing views, but those views must be grounded in fact.
The NT$1.25 trillion special defense budget proposed by the Ministry of National Defense and the Executive Yuan was calculated through discussions with the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency and falls under the Monterey Strategic Dialogue framework, he said.
The opposition party’s proposal was relatively rough, and not coordinated with the US executive branch, he said, adding that it should be regarded only as reference material or expressions of opinion.
Additional reporting by Lin Che-yuan and Chen Yu-fu
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