Tsai administration this month announced it would increase Taiwan’s defense budget by 10 percent this year

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/08/31
By: Eric Chang, Taiwan News, Contributing Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan has been making moves to revamp its military in the face of increased military threats and posturing from China.

Talking to the New York Times, Wang Ting-yu (王定宇), a member of the legislature’s foreign affairs and defense committee, said, “I have to be honest: Taiwan’s military needs to improve a lot.” Chinese fighter jets and warships have repeatedly entered Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) and territorial waters in recent months.

In response, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has forged ahead with military changes. She has moved to strengthen Taiwan’s reserves, a force that would be critical to defending the country in the event of a Chinese invasion.

The Tsai administration this month announced that it would increase Taiwan’s defense budget by 10 percent this year, in addition to a five percent increase in 2019. That would raise military spending to more than two percent of gross domestic product, according to the New York Times.
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