Taiwan is to introduce a US$40 billion supplementary defense budget to underscore its determination to defend itself, with "significant" new US arms purchases planned, President William Lai (賴清德) said in a Washington Post op-ed published yesterday.
Taiwan faces calls from Washington to spend more on its own defense, mirroring pressure from the US on Europe.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
In August, Lai said he hoped defense spending would reach 5 percent of GDP by 2030.
"This landmark package will not only fund significant new arms acquisitions from the United States, but also vastly enhance Taiwan's asymmetrical capabilities," he wrote in the Washington Post piece, which was published yesterday US time.
"In doing so, we aim to bolster deterrence by inserting greater costs and uncertainties into Beijing's decisionmaking on the use of force," he said.
Lai has previously announced he would propose extra defense spending, but had not given details.
Lai is to hold a news conference, alongside Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄), later this morning, after holding a meeting of senior security officials, his office said.
For next year, the government is proposing defense spending would reach NT$949.5 billion (US$30.27 billion).
At 3.32 percent of GDP, the figure crosses a threshold of 3 percent for the first time since 2009, government figures showed.
The US is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself, despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties.
However, since US President Donald Trump returned to office, his administration has so far only approved one new arms sale to Taiwan, a US$330 million package for fighter jet and other aircraft parts announced earlier this month.
"We are grateful that President Donald Trump has made clear the importance of American leadership around the world. The international community is safer today because of the Trump administration's pursuit of peace through strength," Lai wrote.
He reiterated his commitment to seeking talks with China.
"While we will continue to pursue opportunities for cross-strait dialogue, with the understanding that our democracy and freedom remain non-negotiable, we remain grounded by more than wishful thinking, as some have suggested," Lai wrote.
Taiwanese were praised for their composure after a video filmed by Taiwanese tourists capturing the moment a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Japan’s Aomori Prefecture went viral on social media. The video shows a hotel room shaking violently amid Monday’s quake, with objects falling to the ground. Two Taiwanese began filming with their mobile phones, while two others held the sides of a TV to prevent it from falling. When the shaking stopped, the pair calmly took down the TV and laid it flat on a tatami mat, the video shows. The video also captured the group talking about the safety of their companions bathing
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
RSS