David Sacks
Taiwan’s President, Lai Ching-te, has unveiled plans to increase defense spending by nearly six percent, reaching almost $20 billion next year. While Lai stated that such an increase demonstrates Taiwan’s commitment to its security, the proposed budget does not adequately convey a sense of urgency. Instead, Taiwan’s military is set to fall further behind China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and deterrence in the Taiwan Strait will continue to erode. With Chinese pressure intensifying, Taiwan needs to increase defense spending far more rapidly to both show its partners that it takes the threat posed by China seriously and generate uncertainty within China’s leadership as to whether a blockade or invasion of the island would succeed.
Credit Where Due
Taiwan should be given credit for reversing a worrying erosion of its military capabilities. President Lai’s predecessor, Tsai Ing-wen, also of the Democratic Progressive Party, pushed through seven consecutive increases to Taiwan’s defense budget, in the process nearly doubling Taiwan’s defense spending. Lai’s six percent increase is also significantly higher than the last increase Tsai oversaw, which was 3.5 percent. Taiwan’s defense spending is now equivalent to roughly 2.5 percent of GDP, exceeding the baseline set for members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
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