From 2008 to 2015, Taiwan spent US$7.5 billion to purchase US arms, an audit report released by the National Audit Office for fiscal 2017 showed.
According to US Congress statistics, Taiwan was the 10th-largest buyer of US arms during the period, while Saudi Arabia was the largest buyer at US$30.7 billion, followed by India at US$26.4 billion, the report said.
The amount only includes military arms sales, not commercial sales between the US and Taiwan, the office said.
Premier William Lai (賴清德) on Thursday announced that national defense spending for fiscal 2019 would be increased by 5.6 percent, or NT$18.3 billion (US$5.9 billion), to NT$377 billion and would account for 2.16 percent of GDP.
The increased spending would be used to pay off the remainder of US arms purchases, and be allocated toward new purchases, such as M1A2 Abrams main battle tanks, a Ministry of National Defense official said.
Maintenance fees have increased due to continuous Chinese military activity around Taiwan, the official added.
Annual military investment and maintenance fees for fiscal 2015 to fiscal 2017 averaged NT$166 billion to NT$169 billion, the report showed.
The ministry budget for US arms purchases totaled NT$58 billion in fiscal 2016 and NT$42.7 billion in fiscal 2018, the report showed.
It is inevitable that the ministry will need to increase spending on US arms purchases in fiscal 2019, the ministry said.
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