The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus today proposed that the Executive Yuan prepare a special report on the potential impacts of raising defense spending to 10 percent of GDP.
The proposal calls for the report to proceed directly to the second reading and that the KMT be responsible for convening cross-party negotiations.
The proposal said that US Undersecretary of Defense for Policy “nominee” Elbridge Colby has suggested that Taiwan’s defense spending increase to 10 percent of GDP.
Photo: Bloomberg
This amounts to NT$2.6 trillion (US$86.28 billion), which is about equal to the annual expenditure of the central government, the proposal said.
The proposal suggests this would cause a major blow to Taiwan’s finances and impact the nation’s overall governance.
KMT Legislator Ko Ju-chun (葛如鈞) said it is regrettable that the Executive Yuan has yet to come out with concrete proposals to increase the defense budget to 5 percent, 7 percent or even 10 percent of GDP.
The Cabinet instead has focused on traditional national security and defense frameworks, Ko said, raising questions about the transparency and effectiveness of major homeland security projects.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) began his response by saying that any diligent legislators who use Google would know that Colby is no longer a nominee, but is now the undersecretary of defense, as he was officially confirmed last month.
Colby’s original comment was made in a letter published by the Taipei Times in May last year, when he was still a civilian, Wang said.
Colby said in the letter that Taiwan’s current defense spending, amounting to 2.5 percent of GDP, was insufficient and should be increased to 5 percent.
“If its security and autonomy are at stake, why not spend 10 percent,” Colby wrote.
Wang said that it was pointed out in a US House select committee hearing yesterday that it is unrealistic to require Taiwan to spend 10 percent of GDP on defense.
It was even said that Taiwan’s GDP is very large and should not be discussed in terms of percentages, Wang said.
As this is Taiwan’s own internal matter, the case should be put on hold, he added.
Additional reporting by CNA
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