President Lai announces NT$1.25 trillion in special defense spending

2025/11/28

President Lai Ching-te announced an eight-year special defense budget of NT$1.25 trillion (US$40 billion) Nov. 26 in Taipei City in response to China’s threats against Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific.
 
According to the Presidential Office, Lai made the announcement during a press event at the PO after convening a high-level National Security Council meeting earlier the same day.
 
Lai said China is stepping up threats against Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific via military activities and other composite tactics in the Taiwan Strait and around Japan and the Philippines. Beijing is also accelerating preparation by 2027 for military unification with Taiwan, he added.
 
In response, the president said the government will enhance Taiwan’s democratic defense mechanisms by demonstrating to the world the administration’s commitment to safeguarding Taiwan and maintaining the cross-strait status quo.
 
He said efforts will also be directed at enhancing the people’s national identity and counteracting China’s disinformation and infiltration campaigns, interference in Taiwan’s elections, and cross-border persecution of the Taiwanese people.
 
More importantly, the president said the government will continue to strengthen Taiwan’s self-defense capabilities and promote development in defense-related sectors.
 
To this end, Lai said Taiwan’s 2026 defense budget will exceed 3 percent of the gross domestic product and reach 5 percent by 2030. The Ministry of National Defense will also introduce a historic US$40 billion supplementary defense budget for arms acquisition from the U.S. and other strategies to enhance Taiwan’s asymmetrical capabilities, he added.
 
Other measures include enhancing military training regimes, implementing reforms, imposing restrictions to protect Taiwan’s technologies and cooperating with partners to create democratic supply chains.
 
The same stance was expressed in an op-ed penned by Lai entitled “I Will Boost Defense Spending to Protect Our Democracy,” published Nov. 25 by The Washington Post.
 
In a Facebook post the same day, American Institute in Taiwan Director Raymond Greene said the president’s announcement is a major step toward maintaining cross-strait peace by strengthening deterrence.
 
The U.S. supports Taiwan’s rapid acquisition of critical asymmetric capabilities needed to enhance deterrence, consistent with the Taiwan Relations Act and decades of commitment across multiple U.S. administrations, he added.


Source:  Taiwan Today (https://taiwantoday.tw/index.php)