Photo: BloombergCunningham raises the important issue of whether Taiwan can afford the special defense budget, presented as a defense of the KMT’s actions. Like almost all commentators outside Taiwan, Cunningham treats the KMT’s special budget obstructionism as if it exists in a bubble of space-time all its own. To put that in perspective, the 2024 defense budget as proposed in 2023 was NT$440.6 billion (roughly US$13.8 billion). That one year supplemental budget was greater than the average annual special budget currently proposed by the DPP. To reach the DPP’s goals, the base defense budget will also have to rise over the next few years as well.

Source: Taipei Times March 12, 2026 03:41 UTC