The Global Taiwan Institute (GTI), a Washington-based think tank, called on Taiwan to increase its defense budget and procure necessary weapons to comprehensively respond to threats from China in a report released today.
The report, titled “US-Taiwan Relations: Advancing Four Pillars of the Strategic Partnership,” urged the US to more promptly provide Taiwan with critical arms and strengthen joint operational planning and training with Taiwan.
The report reviewed the foundations of US policy toward Taiwan and assessed the development of the US-Taiwan strategic relationship in four key areas: security, international space, economic ties and people-to-people exchanges.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of National Defense
Amid growing challenges from China, the report offered policy recommendations to maintain peace and stability.
In terms of defense and security, the report said that the US should enhance joint operational planning and training with Taiwan to address scenarios involving hard power threats, coercion and “gray zone” activities.
The report also emphasized that Taiwanese politicians should avoid politicizing defense issues and that Taiwan’s security should remain a bipartisan issue in the US.
US policymakers should assist Taiwan’s diplomatic allies in resisting pressure from China to switch recognition and US Congress should pass the Taiwan Allies Fund Act to provide financial support for such efforts, the report said.
The US and its like-minded partners should also explore innovative ways to allow Taiwanese technical experts to participate in UN technical agency activities, it said.
In the economic realm, the report said the US should send more senior economic officials to Taiwan and encourage more Taiwanese semiconductor and high-tech firms to invest in the US.
Finally, regarding people-to-people exchanges, the report said US-Taiwan exchanges should be expanded into multilateral formats involving like-minded allies to counter China’s attempts to isolate Taiwan.
The US should also regularize high-level visits by officials responsible for people-to-people exchanges, it said.
Separately at a GTI panel discussion yesterday in the US, top US officials said that while Taiwan should increase its defense spending, its defense budget does not need to be 10 percent of its GDP.
Former American Institute in Taiwan director William Brent Christensen said that a 10-percent GDP target is “unrealistic for Taiwan.”
Derek Mitchell, former president of the National Democratic Institute, said that though Taiwan needs to increase its defense spending, strengthening its defense is not solely its responsibility.
The US must also bolster its defense industrial base to more rapidly deliver the needed equipment to Taiwan, Mitchell said.
GTI executive director Russell Hsiao said that a 10-percent GDP defense spending target must be understood in the context of a “denial strategy” aimed at preventing China from taking Taiwan by force.
A “denial strategy” requires US military involvement, and for US defense and policy planners, such involvement must be feasible at an acceptable cost, Hsiao said.
This strategy’s effectiveness depends not only on US commitment, but also on greater investment from allies and partners, he said.
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
RSS