00:00Here in Taiwan, the legislature is reviewing the special defense budget with three political parties all putting forward their own
00:07versions.
00:08Our reporter Alan Liu is at the legislature in Taipei. Alan, can you give us an overview of what's happening?
00:17Yeah, Laurel. So on Monday, the legislature officially started reviewing its special defense budgets.
00:24So now all three political parties have put forward their own version.
00:28The first one put forward by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, also the cabinet's version, proposes a 40 billion U
00:35.S. dollar budget plan spending over eight years.
00:38The second one put forward by the smaller Taiwan People's Party proposes a 13 billion U.S. dollar budget plan.
00:45And as for the main opposition, Kuomintang, they also put forward their own 11 billion U.S. dollar budget plan
00:50plus some additional flexible funding for future arms sales.
00:54Now, as Taiwan is facing growing military threats from China, the DPP says its funding is most critical for building
01:03up Taiwan's defenses, including the Taiwan-dong air defense system and also building up its drone industry.
01:10On Monday, the Defense Minister Wellington Koo also stressed again his support for the cabinet's version. Let's take a listen.
01:40The ruling party has been criticizing the opposition's plans for not being comprehensive enough,
01:46and also for cutting some critical funding aimed at boosting domestic production.
01:53So, Alan, as you say, there are two opposition versions of the special defense budget.
01:58What are their arguments?
02:03Yeah, so the main opposition, Kuomintang, today says that the DPP's plans would spend multiple presidencies and could also squeeze
02:12funding from public spending.
02:14They also referred to some previous corruption cases in arms purchases and also domestic defense programs,
02:21saying a big budget like this could create more opportunities for corruption.
02:26And that's why they said they put forward their own alternative version, which is based on the U.S. offer
02:31of letter, letter of offer and acceptance.
02:34As for the smaller Taiwan People's Party, they put forward a one-year budget plan,
02:39arguing that Taiwan's defense spending for 2026 has already exceeded 3% of its GDP, surpassing Japan and South Korea.
02:48They also argue that the military expansion should not continue indefinitely.
02:52Back to you, Laurel.
02:54Thank you, Alan.
02:55That was Alan Liu reporting live from the legislature.
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