00:00Blocking Taiwan's special defense budget amid rising Chinese threats is the wrong move.
00:06That's the message from three U.S. lawmakers to Taiwan's opposition parties, which have
00:10blocked President Lai Qingde's record 40 billion U.S. dollar special defense budget
00:15proposal.
00:16The most senior of the three is Republican Senator Roger Wicker from Mississippi, who
00:20chairs the Senate Committee on Armed Services.
00:23Wicker urged Taiwan's opposition parties to reconsider their move, saying on X that
00:28Lai's budget would be used to fund urgently needed weapons systems.
00:33Another U.S. Senator, Dan Sullivan, questioned the motives behind the opposition's blocking
00:38of the budget.
00:39He pointed to a high-level delegation from the main opposition, Kuomintang, that was just
00:43in Beijing meeting with Chinese Communist Party officials.
00:47This comes just days after the opposition coalition advanced a reduced special defense budget proposed
00:53by the smaller Taiwan People's Party.
00:55The bill caps Taiwan's armed procurement budget at 12.7 billion U.S. dollars, about
01:00a third of what Lai is asking for.
01:04The KMT responded in a written statement, saying the party has always supported strengthening
01:08Taiwan's defense, but responsible spending must be transparent, disciplined, and done with
01:14appropriate legislative oversight.
01:15Meanwhile, TPP Chair Huang Guocan chalked the Senator's comments up to misunderstandings caused
01:21by what he said were media misrepresentations.
01:24President Lai on Wednesday said once again that approving a watered-down defense budget could
01:46delay Taiwan's military buildup, and could also send the wrong message to the international
01:52community.
01:53Taiwan's legislature is currently between sessions, which means no progress can be made
01:57on either of the special defense budgets for now.
02:01But with these U.S. lawmakers speaking up, some in Washington are making their opinion on
02:05the matter known, which could sway decision-making when the legislature comes back into session.
02:11Thank you so much for joining us for Taiwan Plus.
Comments