Taiwan plans to invest in advanced arms as China flexes its muscles

TAIPEI/HONG KONG: Taiwan’s ruling party plans to use a long-term increase in defence spending to pursue advanced weapons systems, government officials say, in what is widely seen as growing determination to forge a stronger deterrent against a Chinese attack.

The left-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), led by President Tsai Ing-wen, is working on detailed spending plans through 2025, two officials with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Tsai and her team have met repeatedly with military leaders in a push for new investment in training and equipment, one of the officials said.

Immediate priorities include new missiles, drones and electronic warfare systems, fighter aircraft and ballistic missile defences, according to a separate statement from the Ministry of National Defence sent to Reuters.

Although some arms would be domestically produced, such as an existing plan to locally build eight submarines, they say a longer-term Taiwanese drive for improved capabilities could mean fresh US deals.

Those requests could deepen tensions between Beijing and Washington.

China considers democratic Taiwan to be a wayward province and has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control.

The United States, Taiwan’s sole foreign supplier of arms, has for years called on Taipei to address a worsening military imbalance across the Taiwan Strait, which has recently seen heightened tensions amid military assertiveness by China. In the first week of 2018, China sailed an aircraft carrier and other military ships through the strait on a training mission.

“If there are three weapons systems that China’s high command really wants to keep out of Taiwan’s hands, it is submarines, fighter jets and ballistic missile defences.

Taipei is smartly investing in all three,” said Ian Easton, a US-based research fellow at the Project 2049 Institute, which studies Asia security issues.

In October, Tsai signalled that defence spending would increase by at least 2 per cent each year, with more possible based on the need for significant purchases.

By 2025, Taiwan’s annual defence spending is projected to increase by at least 20 per cent — or NT$62.4 billion (US$2.08 billion) — to NT$381.7 billion, the officials said, if the legislature approves the future budgets.