Taipei ¨C Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te¡¯s ambitious $40 billion defense spending plan is caught in a political deadlock as opposition lawmakers refuse to consider the proposal without government concessions, sparking criticism in Washington.
Taiwan has spent many billions of dollars upgrading its military in the past decade, but is under intense U.S. pressure to do more to protect itself against the growing threat from China, which claims the island is part of its territory and has not ruled out using force to annex it.
Lai, whose Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lost its parliamentary majority in elections that swept him to power in 2024, has vowed to increase defense spending to more than 3% of GDP this year.
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