Taiwan passes defence budget after record delay, retains drone funding | Business and Economy News

Taiwan’s parliament ends impasse, making certain very important drone programme funding amid rising cross-strait tensions with Beijing.

Taiwan’s opposition-controlled parliament has authorised the federal government’s annual finances, preserving funding for a drone programme central to the island’s defence plans in opposition to China.

Lawmakers handed the $93bn finances late on Friday, after a file 266 days of political impasse and its authorized deadline, as President William Lai Ching-te’s administration, which misplaced its parliamentary majority in 2024, continues to conflict with opposition events over authorities spending.

The authorised funding was earmarked for drone improvement, regardless of an earlier menace by the primary opposition get together, the Kuomintang, to slash that funding by 70 %.

The Kuomintang dropped the proposed minimize after concluding there was no wasteful overlap between the event and procurement programmes it had initially cited as justification.

Different reductions included a 60 % minimize to particular allowances for presidency company heads, a 2.5 % minimize to navy gear and services spending, and a 50 % minimize to media coverage and publicity budgets.

Earlier than Friday’s vote, the federal government had been working underneath a provisional finances mechanism to maintain paying civil servants and funding welfare programmes.

Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu, following the vote, stated the extended delay had brought on “social division and a constitutional deadlock”.

He known as on each the ruling and opposition camps to hunt larger compromise going ahead.

Lai stated in an announcement that parliamentary oversight and evaluation of the finances are an necessary constitutional responsibility.

In Could, the identical opposition-controlled legislature minimize a proposed $40bn particular defence finances by 38 %, stripping out all funding for domestically produced fight drones and leaving solely United States arms purchases intact.

Taiwan’s navy at the moment holds fewer than 5,000 drones, whereas China is reported to have ordered near one million for supply this yr, a part of a broader regional buildup that features Ukraine’s goal of seven million drones in 2026.

Beijing claims self-ruled Taiwan as its personal territory and has sharply escalated military pressure on the island lately.