Taiwanese President William Lai Ching-te speaks after a National Security Council meeting in March 2025. Lai recently proposed a record-setting military budget for Taiwan, raising its defense spending to roughly 3 percent of GDP. (Shutterstock/jamesonwu1972)

Worried About America, Taiwan Proposes Massive Military Budget Increase

Share this link on Facebook

Share this page on X (Twitter)

Share this link on LinkedIn

Share this page on Reddit

Email a link to this page

President Donald Trump’s recent scaling back of military exercises with South Korea has sent shockwaves through Asia—and led US regional allies to invest more in their own defense.

Even before President Donald Trump ordered Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to reduce the US military’s presence in drills with South Korea earlier this week, it has become clear that America’s traditional allies and partners are questioning if Washington really has their back. Trump, perhaps prodded by Hegseth, continues to complain that those allies didn’t have America’s back after failing to support the ongoing war in Iran. It should be noted that Trump didn’t consult these nations before launching “Operation Epic Fury,” and did not come to them for help until after it became clear that the United States would not achieve its objectives alone.

Now, six months later, Trump has expressed frustrations that America’s allies have not come to its aid, and the US stockpile of critical munitions is nearly empty. NATO allies in Europe have understood the dual nature of this threat since last year, and have been actively scaling up their defense spending.Now so too are US allies........

© The National Interest