Last Friday, Taiwan’s opposition-controlled legislature again refused to consider President Lai Ching-te’s proposal for a $40 billion special defense budget. Instead, lawmakers voted to advance an alternative defense budget put forth by the opposition Taiwan People’s Party, or TPP—which holds a majority of seats along with its larger coalition partner, the KMT—which would limit additional military spending to $12.7 billion, 68 percent less than what the Cabinet called for.
This week, Lai denounced the opposition’s stance as “dangerous for Taiwan,” arguing it fails to take seriously “the threat from China.” Lai’s budget would allocate funds for eight different U.S. weapons systems that were approved for sale by the State Department in December, with an emphasis on deterring a Chinese attack on the island by emphasizing asymmetric capabilities. The goal of this “porcupine strategy” is to make any attempt to take the island by force prohibitively costly for Beijing.
However, the TPP’s slimmed down defense budget would only cover five of the eight weapons systems that the State Department signed off on. Among the items it omits are the “T-Dome” system that would aim to create a multi-layered missile defense shield around the island. Opposition lawmakers have questioned the workability of that system and have generally criticized Lai’s budget for requiring too much debt. They have also pushed for more dialogue with Beijing.