00:00President Lai Qingde's record $40 billion U.S. special defense budget proposal is finally
00:04moving forward after months of delay in the legislature.
00:07On the first day of a new legislative session, the ruling and opposition parties reached
00:11a consensus to advance the spending bill for committee review in early March.
00:23Lai proposed the defense budget in November to strengthen Taiwan's defenses and asymmetric
00:27capabilities amid rising Chinese threats.
00:30But the bill had been repeatedly blocked by opposition parties.
00:33The stalled budget has raised concerns among several U.S. lawmakers.
00:36They have asked Taiwan's lawmakers to take the country's defense seriously and quickly
00:40pass the spending bill.
00:41On Tuesday, Defense Minister Wellington Kuo warned that if the legislative stalemate continues,
00:45it could cause delays in Taiwan's weapons procurement from Washington.
01:13So far, the smaller opposition Taiwan People's Party has proposed a watered-down special
01:18defense bill, allocating about one-third of the funds Lai originally asked for.
01:22The larger opposition, Kuomintang, is also set to unveil its own funding package soon.
01:27Kuo stressed that the government's $40 billion U.S. proposal came after careful consideration
01:30and extensive discussions with U.S. officials.
01:33Which defense bill will eventually get passed remains to be seen, but it's certain that
01:37Beijing and Washington will both be watching closely.
01:39Hank Hsu and Larry Siano for Taiwan Plus.
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