Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng Responds to Legislative Yuan Inquiry Last Month
As U.S. President Donald Trump continues to pressure allied countries to increase their defense spending, it has belatedly come to light that Taiwan's Minister of National Defense has stated that the country's defense budget could be raised to a level exceeding 3% of its gross domestic product (GDP). This suggests that the budget could surpass the previously announced target of 3%.
According to Taiwan's United Daily News and other outlets on May 28, Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng made this statement last month during a session of the Legislative Yuan's Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee. In response to a question from a ruling party lawmaker regarding President Lai Ching-te's declaration to achieve a defense budget equivalent to 3% of GDP, Chiu provided this clarification.
Minister Chiu pointed out that, based on his interpretation of President Lai's remarks, 3% of GDP is not the final threshold and there is a possibility that the budget could be increased beyond 3%. However, he emphasized that the most important aspect of increasing the defense budget is to meet the actual operational requirements for Taiwan's defense.
At the time, a lawmaker from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), known for a pro-U.S. and anti-China stance, pointed out that China's defense budget is more than 40 times larger than Taiwan's and called for an increase in the defense budget to strengthen Taiwan's defense capabilities.
Previously, in March, President Lai stated at an event in Taipei that Taiwan's current defense budget stands at 2.5% of GDP. He added, "We will first allocate a special budget to ensure that the defense budget can reach the target of more than 3% of GDP."
He also said, "We will continue to pursue defense reforms to strengthen our self-defense capabilities," and added, "We will also enhance cooperation with democratic countries such as the United States to jointly safeguard regional stability and prosperity."
If Taiwan were to actually expand its defense budget to 3% of GDP, it would need to increase the budget by 100 billion New Taiwan dollars (approximately 4 trillion won). To reach 5% of GDP, an additional 400 billion New Taiwan dollars (approximately 18 trillion won) would be required.
However, President Lai's plan to increase the defense budget still falls far short of President Trump's demands. During his campaign, President Trump insisted that Taiwan should pay "protection fees" to the United States and called for the defense budget to be raised to as much as 10% of GDP. This figure far exceeds the spending ratios of most major allies, including the United States itself.
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