The government aims to increase defense spending to at least 3 percent of GDP this year, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, hours after US President Donald Trump again threatened tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors.
At a news conference in Taipei following his first high-level national security meeting this year, Lai said the government would propose a special budget this year to increase the nation’s defense spending to more than 3 percent of GDP.
“Taiwan must firmly safeguard its national sovereignty, strengthen its resolve for self-defense and bolster its defense capabilities,” he said.
Photo: Presidential Office via AP
The president also vowed to double down on defense reforms and enhance civil protections in the face of growing threats from authoritarian regimes.
Lai’s plans to increase defense spending — which, if successful, would likely see Taipei purchasing more defense articles from Washington — reflects Taipei’s broader efforts to reduce the trade deficit with the US.
The US has approved US$26.26 billion of arms sales to Taiwan over the past eight years, with US$18.76 being approved during Trump’s first term from 2017 to 2021, Lai said.
Taiwan will accelerate efforts to strengthen its national defense capabilities, building on years of close collaboration between Taipei and Washington, he added.
Asked if he was concerned Taiwan could become a “pawn” in the US-China competition, Lai said the nation was “an indispensable member of the world and the region.”
“We are a player, not a pawn,” he said.
His remarks came just hours after Trump, speaking with reporters in Washington after signing a presidential memorandum paving the way for tariffs on US chip imports, reiterated his claim that Taiwan “took our [the US’] chip business away.”
Trump said that the pledged economic sanctions, which could take effect as early as April, would ensure “fair” and “reciprocal” trade, while reducing the US trade deficit in its dealings with other countries over the years.
Taiwan is in the top 10 list of countries with which the US has a trade deficit.
The plans to increase defense spending followed Trump’s comments during his presidential campaign that Taiwan should increase its defense budget significantly and pay the US for protection against China.
Over the past eight years under former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), the defense budget incrementally increased from NT$365.8 billion (US$11.2 billion) in 2016 to NT$606.8 billion last year. However, the spending still fell short of the 3 percent of GDP pledged by Tsai.
It remains to be seen whether the government’s pledged defense spending hike, which would require legislative approval, would materialize.
For this fiscal year, the Cabinet had earmarked NT$647 billion for national defense, amounting to 2.45 percent of GDP. However, NT$8.4 billion of that figure has been cut by the opposition-led legislature, with another NT$89.9 billion frozen, according to Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics estimates.
The legislature has yet to finalize the central government budget plan it passed on Jan. 21 after adopting numerous budget cuts and freezes.
Taiwan’s Lee Chia-hao (李佳豪) on Sunday won a silver medal at the All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham, England, a career best. Lee, 25, took silver in the final of the men’s singles against world No. 1 Shi Yuqi (石宇奇) of China, who won 21-17, 21-19 in a tough match that lasted 51 minutes. After the match, the Taiwanese player, who ranks No. 22 in the world, said it felt unreal to be challenging an opponent of Shi’s caliber. “I had to be in peak form, and constantly switch my rhythm and tactics in order to score points effectively,” he said. Lee got
‘CROWN JEWEL’: Washington ‘can delay and deter’ Chinese President Xi Jinping’s plans for Taiwan, but it is ‘a very delicate situation there,’ the secretary of state said US President Donald Trump is opposed to any change to Taiwan’s “status quo” by force or extortion and would maintain that policy, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Hugh Hewitt Show host on Wednesday. The US’ policy is to maintain Taiwan’s “status quo” and to oppose any changes in the situation by force or extortion, Rubio said. Hewitt asked Rubio about the significance of Trump earlier this month speaking with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) at the White House, a meeting that Hewitt described as a “big deal.” Asked whether the meeting was an indication of the
‘RELATIVELY STRONG LANGUAGE’: An expert said the state department has not softened its language on China and was ‘probably a little more Taiwan supportive’ China’s latest drills near Taiwan on Monday were “brazen and irresponsible threats,” a US Department of State spokesperson said on Tuesday, while reiterating Washington’s decades-long support of Taipei. “China cannot credibly claim to be a ‘force for stability in a turbulent world’ while issuing brazen and irresponsible threats toward Taiwan,” the unnamed spokesperson said in an e-mailed response to media queries. Washington’s enduring commitment to Taiwan will continue as it has for 45 years and the US “will continue to support Taiwan in the face of China’s military, economic, informational and diplomatic pressure campaign,” the e-mail said. “Alongside our international partners, we firmly
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said it has lodged a protest with Pretoria after the name of the Taipei Liaison Office in South Africa was changed to the “Taipei Commercial Office” on the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation’s (DIRCO) Web site. In October last year, the South African government asked Taiwan to relocate the Taipei Liaison Office, the nation’s de facto embassy, out of Pretoria. It later agreed to continue negotiating through official channels, but in January asked that the office be relocated by the end of this month. As of the middle of last month, DIRCO’s Web
RSS