How is the US viewing Taiwan's defense budget standoff? Alec MacDonald spoke to Center for Strategic & International Studies China Power Director Bonny Lin after the CSIS 2026 Indo-Pacific Forecast to find out what Washington is looking for from Taipei.
00:00From a Washington perspective, how is the standoff in Taiwan's government over the special defense budget being viewed?
00:06So the United States, of course, is clearly watching domestic politics in Taiwan.
00:11And of special, of particular interest is to what extent President Lai is able to pass special military spending.
00:20And from the U.S. perspective, Epi is not able to.
00:24I think that really raises significant questions in terms of both how serious is Taiwan on its own defense.
00:31It raises serious questions in terms of the lack of unity and the divisions within Taiwan.
00:38If you do see the opposition significantly pushing back against a desire to increase defense spending for Taiwan.
00:47And granted, I think there probably will be a range of reasons why they are doing so.
00:52But I think there probably will be a instinctive reaction from the U.S. side that that pushback raises questions of whether it is possible to work with those within Taiwan that are not supportive of more defense spending for Taiwan.
01:09A major priority of the U.S. Department of War is that Taiwan needs to increase its defense spending, including up to 10 percent of its GDP.
01:17What about steps such as increasing civil defense measures, the smaller but real actions from Taipei?
01:24So I think from where I'm sitting in D.C., I think there is a strong recognition that Taiwan has made significant investments in civil defense.
01:33It's a priority for President Lai. It's a priority for his team.
01:37And those investments and activities have gone beyond way more than beyond what we've seen in prior years.
01:44Obviously, civil defense efforts have to be coupled also with the more traditional defense efforts, including larger purchases of different weapon systems, increase in defense spending.
01:55There are certain standards and criteria that certain folks have set for Taiwan.
01:59And I think it's very important for Taiwan to try to move in that direction.
02:07And I think it's very important for Taiwan to try to move in that direction.
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