Defense Budget Passed; U.S. State Department Supports Taiwan's Defense Capabilities

The Legislative Yuan passed the 115th-year special defense budget, totaling 8.81 billion NTD, for military procurement from the U.S. The U.S. State Department responded to inquiries from the Central News Agency today, stating that it supports Taiwan's acquisition of key defense capabilities commensurate with the threats it faces, noting that this is 'consistent with the Taiwan Relations Act and the commitments of successive U.S. administrations over the past 45 years.' In early May, the Legislative Yuan passed the 'Special Act on Procurement for National Security Defense and Strengthening Asymmetric Combat Capabilities,' which set a ceiling of 300 billion NTD for the first batch of military procurement and 480 billion NTD for the second, to be budgeted on a one-year-per-term basis. The Executive Yuan subsequently held an extraordinary meeting on the 20th and passed the '115th-Year Central Government Special Budget for National Security Defense and Strengthening Asymmetric Combat Capabilities Procurement.' The first batch of military procurement from the U.S. was budgeted on a one-year-per-term basis, with a total funding requirement of approximately 294.99 billion NTD. This year, 8.8 billion NTD was allocated and sent to the Legislative Yuan for review. Premier Cho Jung-tai pointed out at the time that the items in this special budget include M109A7 self-propelled howitzers, HIMARS multiple rocket launcher systems, anti-armor drone missile systems, Javelin anti-tank missiles, and TOW 2B anti-tank missiles, aiming to moderately improve Taiwan's military operational capabilities while considering the timeliness of the plans. The Legislative Yuan passed this 115th-year special budget bill on the 29th. The budget amount was passed as proposed, with the exception of a 2 million NTD reduction in operating expenses, totaling 8.81 billion NTD. In response, a U.S. State Department spokesperson replied via email, stating that the U.S. supports Taiwan's acquisition of key defense capabilities commensurate with the threats it faces, which is 'consistent with the Taiwan Relations Act and the commitments of successive U.S. administrations over the past 45 years.' The Taiwan Relations Act stipulates that the U.S. has an obligation to provide Taiwan with defensive weapons.