Taiwanese lawmakers spar over 12-fold budget rise for US joint defence programme

Debate has erupted in Taiwan’s legislature over a proposed 12-fold increase in funding next year for a defence planning programme with the United States. The proposed rise in spending is for the Joint Force Design (JFD) programme, a bilateral defence planning mechanism used to assess the island’s military requirements, operational concepts and capability gaps. Findings for the JFD, formally known as the Taiwan-US Defence Department Cooperative Assessment Project, help shape force planning, military exercises, weapons procurement priorities and US security assistance. Taiwan’s defence ministry plans to allocate NT$471.2 million (US$14.9 million) to the programme between 2026 and 2028, including NT$152.5 million next year alone, marking a steep rise from previous years. Questioning the increase during a legislative review on Tuesday, Ma Wen-chun of the main opposition Kuomintang party and co-chairwoman of the body’s foreign affairs and defence committee, asked what level of American participation could justify the spending. “Who exactly is coming for these exchanges? Is it US President Donald Trump, or a US military general?” Ma asked. According to Ma, from 2023 to 2025, annual funding averaged about US$410,000, or just over NT$10 million a year. “Now it has suddenly jumped to US$5 million a year, or more than NT$150 million, an increase by a factor of 12,” Ma said. “How many people will the US side send to Taiwan? How many meetings will be held? What benefits will be produced?” The KMT lawmaker argued that the ministry had yet to explain why the budget had risen so sharply, noting that the programme did not involve weapons purchases, military construction projects or arms procurement. “Are we really unable to conduct these evaluations ourselves?” she asked. The dispute emerged during legislative scrutiny of the defence ministry’s 2026 budget proposal. Ma initially proposed cutting NT$150.5 million from the programme and freezing an additional NT$10 million. After negotiations, lawmakers agreed to reduce the budget by NT$50 million and freeze NT$10 million pending a written report from the defence ministry. The ministry defended the increase, saying the latest round of assessments would expand beyond previous reviews to cover joint operational capabilities, the military application of emerging technologies and whole-of-society resilience. Defence Minister Wellington Koo Li-hsiung has described the initiative as one of the most important projects between his ministry and the US Defence Department. He said the two sides had long conducted the assessments through joint working groups and that the expanded scope had prompted Washington to seek a higher level of cost-sharing from Taipei. Legislator Wang Ting-yu of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) also defended the programme, arguing that Taiwan had historically covered less than 25 per cent of JFD costs, with the remainder paid by the United States. Wang said the project had evolved into a comprehensive review of Taiwan’s tactics, force structure and equipment requirements, while helping determine the future depth of military cooperation between Taipei and Washington. “This is the foundation upon which military hardware is transformed into actual combat capability,” the DPP lawmaker said during legislative deliberations last week. Analysts said the size and duration of the programme suggested it was far more than a routine military exchange mechanism. According to Chieh Chung, an associate research fellow at the Association of Strategic Foresight, a Taipei think tank, allocating NT$471 million over three years to a bilateral project that did not involve military procurement was highly unusual. Chieh said the initiative could be laying the groundwork for deeper operational coordination between the Taiwanese and US defence establishments. “It cannot be ruled out that the two defence ministries are preparing for more advanced coordination of action plans.” Public budget documents reveal few details about the new phase of the programme. The defence ministry disclosed only that officials from both sides held a series of in-person workshops in 2024 covering homeland defence, blockade scenarios, drone warfare and intelligence sharing, with representatives from Taiwan’s General Staff Headquarters and military services taking part. The budget dispute comes as Taiwan seeks to strengthen deterrence against mounting military pressure from Beijing while deepening defence cooperation with Washington. Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China to be reunited by force if necessary. Most countries, including the US, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state, but Washington is opposed to any attempt to take the self-ruled island by force and is committed to supplying it with weapons.

Taiwanese lawmakers spar over 12-fold budget rise for US joint defence programme

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Proposal by island’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party hints at advanced action plans, as opposition Kuomintang questions spending surge

Proposal by island’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party hints at advanced action plans, as opposition Kuomintang questions spending surge