Taiwan’s opposition-dominated legislature on Friday approved a special defense budget worth 780 billion New Taiwan dollars ($24.8 billion), rejecting a larger package favored by the government.
The legislation funds NTD 300 billion worth of arms sales that have already been approved by the U.S. Congress, with a provision to fund an additional NTD 480 billion in arms purchases once Washington provides a letter of offer and acceptance, or LOA.
The Legislative Yuan approved the measure over a competing NTD 1.25 trillion ($40 billion) special defense budget proposed by the government, which would have funded eight years of weapons purchases from the U.S. plus local procurements including the development of a domestic drone industry.
The bill passed with 59 votes from the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) in favor and 48 members of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) abstaining, effectively capping the special defense budget at NTD 780 billion and tethering it strictly to U.S.-certified sales.
Despite falling short of the spending level that President Lai Ching-te’s (賴清德) government had asked for, the budget passed today represents the largest in Taiwan’s history. Both special defense budgets passed under Lai’s predecessor Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) from 2016 to 2024, when the DPP also controlled the legislature, each carried a total price tag of around NTD 240 billion.
Speaking before the vote, KMT lawmaker Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) noted that Taiwan’s defense budget already exceeds 3% of GDP. “To say not a single cent can be cut from a 1.25 trillion [NTD] special budget is emotional blackmail,” he said, using a Chinese term for a pickup artist.
Another KMT legislator, Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭), said his party was not against U.S. arms sales, which “have clear procedures and prices,” but did not understand why the portion on domestic procurements was so expensive. “No LOA, no budget. Not a single cent can be touched without that document.”
DPP lawmaker Puma Shen (沈伯洋) expressed frustration that the opposition had removed funding for key items, including domestic drone manufacturing, integrated air defense, and command and control. “The items they’ve cut today are the most crucial ones in this entire arms procurement process.”
Correction: A previous version of this story reported that 51 members of the DPP voted against against the bill. In fact, DPP legislators cast 51 votes against motions during the bill’s second reading, one limiting procurement items to specific U.S. arms packages, the other capping the budget at NTD 780 billion. For the final vote on the full bill during the third reading, 48 members of the DPP abstained.
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