On the 3rd, Chairman of the United States Senate Armed Services Committee, Wicker, posted on social media, expressing disappointment over the large cuts to Taiwan's defense budget by opposition parties.
Republican Roger Wicker wrote on the X platform: “I am disappointed to see Taiwan’s opposition parties make sweeping cuts to the defense budget proposed by President Lai Ching-te. The original budget was intended for the purchase of urgently needed weapons systems.”
He further cited Bloomberg reports, emphasizing that amid the growing threat from mainland China, the Lai administration’s initial proposal provided funding for urgently needed weapons systems, and called on Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan to reconsider.
According to Bloomberg, the opposition-backed bill would substantially slash the special defense budget, which could jeopardize the US arms procurement plan worth billions of dollars designed to deter the threat of invasion from mainland China.
Aggregating earlier Taiwanese media reports, Taiwan’s opposition Taiwan People’s Party held a press conference on January 26 to announce that their draft bill on US arms purchases would lower the total budget cap to NT$400 billion (about RM49.8 billion). The original budget proposed by the Democratic Progressive Party government totaled NT$1.25 trillion (about RM160 billion).
Taiwan’s Executive Yuan and Ministry of National Defense responded to the Taiwan People’s Party proposal on the same day. Executive Yuan spokesperson Li Hui-chih said the opposition’s draft lacks strategic vision, has no force-building plan, violates the practical procedures of arms procurement, disregards defense autonomy, and would not only impede Taiwan-US arms procurement, but also seriously affect Taiwan’s sustainable defense capability.