President Lai Ching-te of Taiwan said his government would introduce a $40 billion special budget for military spending that will focus on acquiring more of the nimble, mobile weapons from the United States that it needs to deter and outsmart China’s far larger military forces.
The proposed spending, which would be in addition to the main annual military budget, is politically important for Mr. Lai’s government, which has come under pressure from the Trump administration to increase defense outlays. Beijing asserts that Taiwan is its territory, and says that it could use armed force to take the island if it deems necessary.
Mr. Lai announced the military spending goal at a news conference in Taipei on Wednesday and laid out other proposed steps to counter what he described as a growing threat posed by China’s military intimidation and political infiltration.
“History demonstrates that compromising with aggressors ultimately brings only endless aftermaths of war and subjugation,” Mr. Lai said, citing the example of Western appeasement of Nazi Germany before World War II. Defending Taiwan, Mr. Lai said, “must be the shared responsibility of the government, opposition parties and all Taiwanese people.”
He said that the special budget, which amounts to 1.25 trillion Taiwanese dollars, would also be used to build up the island’s domestic weapons industry by 2033. Mr. Lai’s proposal must be approved by Taiwan’s legislature, where it may be blocked by opposition parties.
Mr. Lai’s government has also proposed increasing the regular defense budget for 2026. In total, the additional spending could take Taiwan’s military outlays to 3.3 percent of its economic output next year, Mr. Lai said. The Trump administration has pressed Taiwan to spend at least 5 percent of its gross domestic product on defense, up from its current level of about 2.45 percent. Mr. Lai said that he is committed to meeting the Trump administration’s target by 2030.
Mr. Lai’s announcement underscores the growing pressure on Taiwan by China, which in recent days has also sought to punish Japan for supporting Taiwan. China has mounted a ferocious campaign of denunciations and travel boycotts after Japan’s new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, told Parliament that an effort by China to blockade or invade Taiwan could force Japan to deploy its military forces.
Previous Japanese prime ministers had avoided specifying how they would respond to a Chinese attack on Taiwan for fear of provoking a domestic political backlash, but Ms. Takaichi’s tough stance has so far been met with strong public approval.
Taiwan’s defense minister, Wellington Koo, said that the proposed increases in military spending would be used to build a multilayered missile defense system and acquire more drones and unmanned boats. American military officials and experts have been urging Taiwan to focus on these kinds of weapons, instead of conventional ships and fighter aircraft, to better deter China.
Even with sufficient funding, such an upgrade in military hardware would be a challenge because the armed forces would require specialized training to operate the new and more sophisticated weapons, said Lin Ying-yu, an associate professor at Tamkang University in Taiwan who specializes in military issues. “I believe this area still requires considerable work on our part,” he said.
Mr. Lai’s proposal faces potential obstacles in the legislature, where his Democratic Progressive Party is outnumbered by the main opposition party, called the Nationalist Party or Kuomintang, as well as a smaller group, the Taiwan People’s Party.
The Nationalist Party said in a statement that it was concerned that the extra spending proposed by Mr. Lai would require heavy borrowing by the government. It also criticized Mr. Lai for having announced his proposal to the media without first raising it with the legislature.
Opposition lawmakers have criticized the Lai administration for not doing enough to address serious delays in the delivery of U.S. weapons already ordered, including F-16 fighter jets. They have also criticized a project by Mr. Lai’s administration to build a new fleet of submarines, calling it a waste of money.
The recently elected chairwoman of the Nationalist Party, Cheng Li-wun, has objected to sharply increasing Taiwan’s military spending. Ms. Cheng is not a member of the legislature, but her views could hold sway over some Nationalist lawmakers.
In an interview this week, Ms. Cheng said she agreed with “reasonable” levels of military outlays for Taiwan, but maintained that dialogue with Beijing was the way to ensure the island’s security against China’s much larger armed forces. “I believe the priority lies in a political approach, not through substantial increases in military spending,” she said.
Raymond Greene, the United States’ de facto ambassador in Taipei, welcomed Mr. Lai’s announcement and urged the island’s opposition parties to back the increase in military spending.
“Just as support for Taiwan is a longstanding U.S. bipartisan priority, I expect Taiwan’s political parties will find similar common ground,” he said in a social media post.
2023年台湾军队在八里区演习。赖清德政府提议明年将军费开支提高到台湾经济产出的3.3%。