Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) today said he has instructed the Ministry of National Defense to consider proposing another special act or budget, or expanding the scale of the annual budget, in response to the exclusion of defense procurement items in the supplementary budget act passed on Friday last week.
The Legislative Yuan passed the third reading of a special defense budget of NT$780 billion (US$24.75 billion), with a budget ceiling of NT$300 billion for the first round of US arms procurement and a cap of NT$480 billion for the second round.
The bill fell short of the eight-year NT$1.25 trillion budget requested by the government.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
The ministry today reported to the Executive Yuan on the items not included in the budget and their effect on national defense.
Failure to pass certain items would undermine the integrity of joint operational capability planning, defense resilience and Taiwan-US cooperation, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) quoted Cho as saying.
The original NT$1.25 trillion budget included three main parts: the “Taiwan Shield” or “T-Dome” for air defense, high-tech systems to build precision strike capability and support for the domestic defense industry, Cho said, adding that they are indispensable to Taiwan’s arms procurement.
The government would seek a way out that is in accordance with the Constitution and Budget Act (預算法), he said.
The deleted portions of the budget would have four major effects, he said.
First, command and control decisionmaking would be affected, as the artificial intelligence-assisted intelligence decisionmaking module, the Taiwan Tactical Network and Team Awareness Kit were struck from the budget, Cho said.
That would delay the military’s ability to rapidly analyze intelligence for joint operations and theater commands, he said.
Second, awareness of enemy movements would be reduced and response time would be compressed, due to the removal of the Albatross II Uncrewed Aerial Vehicle (UAV), vertical takeoff and landing UAVs and coastal surveillance UAVs, Cho said.
Third, the scope of anti-missile interception would be reduced, due to the removal of the Tien Kung (天弓, Sky Bow) missiles, a series of UAVs and suicide uncrewed surface vessels, he said.
Fourth, defense resilience would be affected by the removal of new or expanded military production lines, general-purpose ammunition and mobile obstacle equipment, reducing ammunition stockpile readiness across the armed forces, Cho said.
Moreover, equipment systems jointly developed and procured by Taiwan and the US were also struck from the bill, which could delay international cooperation and undermine Taiwan’s perceived self-defence resolve, he added.
The deadline for Taiwan’s initial payment for the procurement of High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems is set for May 31, Cho said.
He hopes that the ruling and opposition parties in the legislature pass a special budget and send it to committee for review, Cho said, urging the legislature not to delay at such a critical moment and risk losing already-negotiated arms procurement projects.
Additional reporting by Chung Li-hua
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