TAIPEI ¨C The top U.S. diplomat in Taiwan on Monday pressed the island's opposition-majority parliament to pass a "comprehensive" defense budget, saying integrated air and missile defense systems and drones are critically important and in high demand globally.
Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te last year ?proposed $40 billion in supplemental defense spending, covering not only new U.S. weapons but also homemade ?weapons like ?drones, saying Taipei needs to more effectively deter the threat from ?China, which views the island as its own territory.
Lai says only Taiwan's people can decide the island's future.
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