The Cabinet plans to spend next year NT$949.5 billion (US$31.27 billion) on defense, amounting to 3.32 percent of GDP, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said today, which would cross a threshold of 3 percent for the first time since 2009.
The move comes as China has ramped up military and political pressure over the past five years.
Taiwan also faces calls from Washington to spend more on its own defense, mirroring pressure from the US on Europe.
Photo: Taipei Times
This month, President William Lai (賴清德) said he wanted to boost defense spending to more than 3 percent of GDP next year.
The budget includes funding for the coast guard, veterans and special projects, the agency added.
It did not say what that meant in terms of a percentage increase over this year's defense spending.
Taiwan was including spending for the coast guard in its total defense budget for the first time, two senior officials briefed on the matter told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"They are standing on the frontline," said one, referring to the coast guard, which engages in regular standoffs with China's coast guard and would, in time of war, be pressed into the navy's efforts to defend Taiwan.
The Cabinet is holding a news conference to announce budget details.
Taiwan's government has made military modernization a key policy platform and has repeatedly pledged to spend more on its defenses given the rising threat from China, including developing made-in-Taiwan submarines.
China's air force flies almost daily missions into the skies near Taiwan, and holds periodic war games, the last in April.
China is also rapidly modernizing its armed forces, with new aircraft carriers, stealth fighter jets and missiles.
In March, China unveiled a rise of 7.2 percent in this year's defense spending, to 1.78 trillion yuan (US$248.17 billion), outpacing its economic growth target for this year of about 5 percent.
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