Taiwan Advances NT$607.6B State Defense Spending Bill

Taiwan’s Cabinet request for NT$607.6 billion (US$18.51 billion), including funding for unmanned weapons and a new surface-to-air missile system, advanced to committee review on Tuesday. Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) briefed the Legislative Yuan and answered lawmakers’ questions. The proposal shifts public funds toward defense procurement and state operations. Committee review comes next, not a final vote.

Who Controls the Spending

The Cabinet proposed the plan in September as part of the 2026 general budget. It would leave government expenditure for fiscal year 2026 NT$47.55 billion above revenue. A report submitted to the Legislature said the central government would need to issue NT$208.5 billion in national debt in 2026, including NT$161 billion earmarked for debt repayment. These figures connect the financing structure to the spending decision: the government plans to spend more than it takes in and borrow to meet its obligations.

The budget puts large sums under government and institutional control. The defense package includes NT$145.7 billion that opposition lawmakers previously rejected, for unmanned systems and a new surface-to-air defense system. That rejection didn’t end the proposal. The funding is moving through legislative review again.

Weapons, Systems and Classified Funds

Of the defense funding, NT$55.9 billion would buy three kinds of unmanned systems sought by the Ministry of National Defense: coastal attack drones, coastal reconnaissance drones and small one-way unmanned surface vessels. The ministry says the systems are intended to bolster Taiwan’s defenses. The budget names the people and institutions directing the procurement, but identifies no community-led role in deciding how the funds are used.

Another NT$13 billion would cover a package of seven items, including a “midcourse anti-ballistic missile system.” The state-owned weapons developer, the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, developed the Chiang-Kong missile. The plan also assigns NT$64.5 billion to classified funding for two projects believed to involve financing the Legislature previously removed for Taiwan-U.S. co-development programs. The report doesn’t identify the projects beyond that description.

The legislative process has already shown its limits as a point of control. Opposition lawmakers rejected the NT$145.7 billion defense allocation before, yet the funding has now advanced to committee review as part of the Cabinet’s request. The report describes this procedural turn, not a final resolution of the dispute or a change in which institutions make the spending decisions.

State Operations and Allowances

State-run oil supplier CPC Corp., Taiwan, would receive the largest share of the supplementary budget: NT$233.8 billion to support its operations. The company has accumulated deficits since 2020, due in part to government policies intended to stabilize petroleum and natural gas prices. The Cabinet’s largest supplementary allocation therefore goes to a state-run company whose deficits are linked, in part, to those price policies.

Another NT$11.1 billion is earmarked for planned allowance increases. Recipients include military personnel and civil servants in managerial positions, coast guard personnel assigned to dangerous or special duties, aides to city and county councilors, and village and ward chiefs. The request now moves through committee review after Cho’s briefing and answers to lawmakers. The figures show where the Cabinet’s proposed money would go; they don’t describe a grassroots or mutual-aid response.