Taiwan should spend more money on defense, but it is up to the government to decide what is practical and what it can do, former American Institute in Taiwan director William Stanton said yesterday in Taipei.
Stanton made the remarks when asked about comments made by US undersecretary of defense for policy nominee Elbridge Colby during a confirmation hearing at the US Senate Committee on Armed Services on Tuesday.
Colby said Taipei must raise defense spending closer to 10 percent of GDP, as US President Donald Trump previously suggested, adding that he is “profoundly disturbed” about Taiwan’s perceived reluctance to do so.
Photo: Chen Chi-chu, Taipei Times
The Cabinet had earmarked NT$647 billion (US$19.72 billion) for defense spending this year, or about 2.45 percent of GDP, some of which was later cut or frozen by the opposition-controlled legislature.
President William Lai (賴清德) pledged to propose a special budget to raise defense spending to more than 3 percent of GDP, but that would still require legislative approval.
Colby’s “off-the-cuff remark is probably not based on a careful analysis of what military equipment is needed to build up the troops’ strength,” Stanton told the Taipei Times on the sidelines of a tabletop exercise. “Therefore, a serious assessment has to be done as to what can reasonably be done to enhance Taiwan’s defense capability.”
“I would take it as a signal of a general view proposed by President Trump that all these countries looking to the US for support need to also show they are making an effort for their own self-defense. That is the main thrust of it,” he said.
Earlier this week, Stanton said that Taiwan’s mandatory military service should be extended to two years to ensure a well-trained force, after former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) resumed one-year compulsory service.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chen Yeong-kang (陳永康), a retired navy admiral, said that Colby might not have the whole picture about the nation’s defense spending.
“We hope that we have an opportunity to communicate with him. We lawmakers across party lines can even form a delegation to the US and explain to him in person,” he said.
On raising the defense budget to 10 percent of GDP, he said that it is unclear if tax revenue can support such expenditure.
“The proposal would come at the expense of other government agencies and involve interagency negotiations. How we strike a balance in this regard depends on what our national security strategy is,” he said.
The legislature would soon review the Ministry of National Defense’s Quadrennial Defense Review, Chen said, adding that last year’s report was only 48 pages long, with only one-and-a-half pages on defense policy.
“The review and defense white paper must not be filled with only adjectives and combative rhetoric. Rather, there must be an integrated framework that guides systematic discussions. It is wrong to let the conversations be guided by political ideologies and cut, eliminate or freeze defense without discussion on details,” he said.
On Beijing’s announcement yesterday that it plans to increase defense spending by 7.2 percent this year, Chen said Taiwan’s spending would always be disproportionately lower compared with China.
“Instead of thinking about the types of weapons that should be procured first, any defense project must prioritize funding to train people how to operate weapons and build up military capabilities,” he said. “We want to communicate with the US on how to allocate and use the funding, which would be a significant amount, more effectively.”
Regarding future tabletop exercises, National Women’s League chairwoman Joanna Lei (雷倩) said that organizers should simulate scenarios on how Taiwan should react if the US makes an about-face on a cross-strait conflict, such as how Trump has shifted away from former US president Joe Biden’s stance on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
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