Taiwan’s political parties deadlocked over efforts to boost military drone capacity
Taiwanese political parties are deadlocked over the funding and oversight of a massive military drone procurement program. The ruling party favors a special budget for rapid acquisition, while the opposition prefers regular legislative scrutiny.
Why it matters
The delay highlights internal political friction regarding national security and defense readiness amidst rising tensions with mainland China.
A political row is threatening to undermine Taiwan’s efforts to increase its stockpiles of military drones and has raised questions about the future of its domestic manufacturers.
On Monday, lawmakers failed to agree on competing versions of a bill to buy and develop military drones after six hours of debate.
While the ruling Democratic Progressive Party and the opposition broadly agree on the need to expand the island’s arsenal of drones, they disagree about who should oversee the programme and how it should be funded.
The cabinet has proposed a NT$210 billion (US$7.1 billion) special budget for the next five years to procure more than 200,000 locally produced drones and unmanned surface vessels, including coastal surveillance drones, coastal strike drones and small suicide boats.
But the main opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), wants to allocate NT$240 billion over six years through the regular annual budget.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in