US senators pan KMT, TPP over defense budgetBy Lin Che-yuan, Chen Cheng-liang and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporters, with staff writerOpposition parties not passing defense funding harms Taiwan’s national security, two US senators said separately in rare public criticism. “I am disappointed to see Taiwan’s opposition parties in parliament [the legislature] slash President [William] Lai’s (賴清德) defense budget so dramatically,” Roger Wicker, a Republican who chairs the US Senate Armed Forces Committee, said on social media. Meantime, the leadership of the opposition party responsible for this, the KMT [Chinese Nationalist Party], is in Beijing meeting with the CCP and planning bigger engagements. Citing Wicker’s post, he said that the KMT’s refusal to pass the special defense budget amid China’s rising military threat to Taiwan sent the wrong signal to the world. “The KMT is doing everything in its power to delay Taiwan’s defense budget and efforts to improve [the nation’s] defensive capabilities, while throwing itself into China’s arms,” Wang said.

Source: Taipei Times February 03, 2026 17:13 UTC