While the U.S. has just approved over $11 billion in arms sales to Taiwan, the Taiwanese legislature continues to block increased spending over the period 2026-2033.
President of Taiwan William Lai has attempted to increase military spending by 1.25 trillion NTD ($40 billion), but has found his efforts blocked by legislators. On Dec. 16, lawmakers from the Kuomintang and Taiwan People’s Party blocked this increased spending, following a similar vote taken on Dec. 2 to keep the spending bill off the legislative agenda.
As a counterpunch, the opposition parties also passed a resolution to invite President Lai to the legislature for a question-and-answer session on his enormous new military spending demands.
Lai’s proposal would dramatically increase Taiwan’s military spending, from 2% of GDP it has been over the past 20 years, to about 5% by 2030.
