Many in the English-speaking world perceive Taiwan’s defense spending as “measly.” But Taiwan’s president, Lai Ching-te, has taken a major step forward by committing to raise Taiwan’s defense spending from 2.45 percent to 3 percent of GDP in 2025 through a special budget.

Lai has clearly gotten the message that he must increase defense spending in a world where the U.S. appears increasingly likely to leave small powers to fend for themselves. However, the current Kuomintang-led majority coalition in Taiwan’s legislature is often portrayed as intent on diminishing Taiwan’s self-defense capabilities because it is pro-Chinese Communist Party, but there is more to this story.

Critics parsing through Taiwan’s 2025 general budget, passed by its legislature in late January, have highlighted perceived decreases in defense spending.

The Kuomintang and Taiwan People’s Party coalition indeed took a sledgehammer to the funding of various domestic government departments for partisan reasons. Prominent cuts to the military budget include 3 percent of the funds for military equipment and facilities expenses and 60 percent of the Ministry of National Defense’s publicity budget.

Small cuts to equipment procurement proposals in the draft budget are routine and this trim represents a small fraction of overall defense spending, which will still increase. Lastly, cutting the publicity budget hardly reduces real combat effectiveness.

Although the opposition’s characterizations of Lai’s administration as unscrupulous and wasteful are almost certainly exaggerated for partisan effect, Taiwan’s constitution gives the legislative branch limited powers to revise spending proposed by the executive branch, and thus it tends to rely on cuts........

© The Hill