TAIPEI: Taiwan’s military spending will rise a modest 3.5 per cent year-on-year to hit a fresh record high in 2024, President Tsai Ing-wen said on Monday (Aug 21) as she pledged continued efforts to improve defences amid a growing China threat.
China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, has ramped up military and political pressure over the past three years to assert those claims, which Taipei strongly rejects.
The overall defence budget proposed by Tsai, which will need parliamentary approval, is NT$606.8 billion (US$19 billion), amounting to 2.5 per cent of the island’s GDP.
That would be the island’s seventh consecutive year of growth in military spending, though the rate of growth will be far slower than the 14 per cent year-on-year rise seen this year.
As in 2023, the budget will include a “special budget” for unspecified extra spending. Tsai did not provide details about that in a statement from her office released after a meeting with senior officials on Taiwan’s overall budget plans.
“Taiwan must continue to strengthen its self-defence capabilities, demonstrate its determination for self-defence, ensure its national security and interests, and seek more international support,” she said.
Tsai has overseen a military modernisation programme to make Taiwan’s armed forces better able to face China, including upgrading its fleet of F-16 fighter jets and developing its own submarines.
Tsai noted at the meeting that the first prototype indigenous submarine was expected to be unveiled next month as scheduled.
