At a US Senate confirmation hearing last week, Republican Senator Dan Sullivan singled out the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for cutting Taiwan’s national defense budget, saying it is “playing a dangerous game.”
The KMT, in its usual fashion, said the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) had misled the US about the budget. The Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) likewise accused the DPP of “deceiving” the US, insisting that the budget cuts were smaller than last year’s at less than 1 percent.
In reality, 70 percent, or up to NT$178.1 billion (US$5.41 billion), of the Ministry of National Defense’s operational budget has been frozen.
Association of Strategic Foresight researcher Chieh Chung (揭仲) said the ministry is likely to have a gap in operational funding — ranging from at least nine days to one month — during the first half of this year. During that period, although the military’s combat readiness and training missions would not completely stop, many operations would be affected. Some units are also at risk of running out of resources.
Under former presidents Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國), to maintain a military of 600,000 soldiers and “a sky full of stars,” they appointed a bunch of high-ranking officers who had never won a battle, or as some say: “officers who would lose the battle, but win the retreat.”
Defense spending at the time made up more than 80 percent of the national budget, with the KMT often quoting Sun Zi (孫子), from The Art of War (孫子兵法): “Rely not on the likelihood of the enemy’s not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him.”
However, following the deaths of the Chiangs, the KMT has transformed into a party that relies on the likelihood of the enemy’s not coming and lacks the readiness to receive them. Their favorite slogans are: “Don’t provoke the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)” and “Maintain cross-strait peace.”
Now, under the guise of freezing the national budget, they are disrupting and effectively dismantling Taiwan’s military preparedness. From the perspective of the US, which has always been concerned about Taiwan becoming a flash point in the Indo-Pacific region, that behavior is intolerable.
Now that the US has spoken out, KMT and TPP legislators are playing the same tune, claiming that the DPP is “deceiving” the US. Out of consideration for its own national interests, the US has personnel stationed in Taiwan to gather political intelligence and conduct cross-comparisons to ensure it gains a comprehensive understanding by hearing all sides. How could it possibly be misled by the DPP?
The US has called out those they perceive to be aligned with the CCP, criticizing them for recklessly cutting and freezing the defense budget. If the KMT and TPP continue to ignore the issue, believing they can deceive the US with mere rhetoric, while disregarding Sullivan’s warning, what will the consequences be? That is something they need to think long and hard about.
John Yu is a civil servant in Taipei.
Translated by Kyra Gustavsen
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