Taiwan should follow Poland’s example by significantly increasing its defense budget and investing in affordable military technology such as uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) to better prepare for a potential Chinese invasion, two Polish defense experts said on Wednesday.
“In Poland, we realized that we need to be less and less dependent on our allies,” Tomasz Smura said in an interview in Taipei.
Although Poland values its strong ties with its main security ally, the US, it recognizes that Washington is adjusting its global resource allocation following US President Donald Trump’s return to the White House, said Smura, director of research at the Warsaw-based think tank Casimir Pulaski Foundation.
Photo: I-hwa Cheng, AFP
Rising threats from Russia make it important for Poland to become more self-reliant in its defense, he said.
Poland’s military spending is to rise to 4.7 percent of GDP this year, said Smura, who also heads the foundation’s defense program.
He urged Taiwan to follow Poland’s example by significantly increasing its defense budget to address a similar threat from the authoritarian regime in China.
Zbigniew Pisarski, president of the foundation’s board, shared a similar view, citing Cold War-era defense spending that averaged 3 percent of GDP or higher.
“I would heavily recommend that defense spending be much higher in Taiwan,” he said.
Taiwan’s Cabinet earmarked NT$647 billion (US$21.44 billion) for defense spending this year, equal to 2.45 percent of GDP. Some of that budget was cut or frozen by the opposition-controlled legislature earlier this year.
President William Lai (賴清德) later pledged to propose a special budget to raise defense spending to 3 percent of GDP, but that plan would also need legislative approval.
Asked what kind of weapon systems Taiwan should invest in amid rising military threats from China, the Polish experts recommended more investments in UAVs — such as drones and loitering munitions — and anti-ship capabilities.
“Lessons learned from Ukraine show it’s not always necessary to spend money on advanced high-end technologies. Sometimes it’s better to have large numbers of cheaper equipment,” Smura said.
The two were part of a delegation from the foundation that wrapped up their six-day visit in Taiwan on Saturday.
Greenpeace yesterday said that it is to appeal a decision last month by the Taipei High Administrative Court to dismiss its 2021 lawsuit against the Ministry of Economic Affairs over “loose” regulations governing major corporate electricity consumers. The climate-related lawsuit — the first of its kind in Taiwan — sought to require the government to enforce higher green energy thresholds on major corporations to reduce emissions in light of climate change and an uptick in extreme weather. The suit, filed by Greenpeace East Asia, the Environmental Jurists Association and four individual plaintiffs, was dismissed on May 8 following four years of litigation. The
A former officer in China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) who witnessed the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has warned that Taiwan could face a similar fate if China attempts to unify the country by force. Li Xiaoming (李曉明), who was deployed to Beijing as a junior officer during the crackdown, said Taiwanese people should study the massacre carefully, because it offers a glimpse of what Beijing is willing to do to suppress dissent. “What happened in Tiananmen Square could happen in Taiwan too,” Li told CNA in a May 22 interview, ahead of the massacre’s 36th anniversary. “If Taiwanese students or
DIPLOMACY: It is Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo’s first visit to Taiwan since he took office last year, while Eswatini’s foreign minister is also paying a visit A delegation led by Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo arrived in Taiwan yesterday afternoon and is to visit President William Lai (賴清德) today. The delegation arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 4:55pm, and was greeted by Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍). It is Arevalo’s first trip to Taiwan since he took office last year, and following the visit, he is to travel to Japan to celebrate the 90th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Arevalo said at the airport that he is very glad to make the visit to Taiwan, adding that he brings an important message of responsibility
About 3,000 people gathered at events in Taipei yesterday for an annual candlelight vigil commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, a brutal crackdown by Chinese authorities on a student-led demonstration in Beijing on June 4 36 years ago. A candlelight vigil organized by the New School for Democracy and other human rights groups began at 7pm on Democracy Boulevard outside Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, with the theme "Resist Transnational Repression, Defy Totalitarianism." At about 8pm, organizers announced that about 3,000 people had attended the event, which featured brief speeches by human rights advocates from Taiwan and China, including Hong Kong, as well
RSS