Taiwanese lawmakers spar over 12-fold budget rise for US joint defence programme

AI Summary

Taiwanese lawmakers are debating a proposed more than twelvefold budget increase for the US-Taiwan Joint Force Design defence programme. The plan focuses on enhancing Taiwan’s military capabilities amid regional security concerns.

A Taiwan-US defence planning programme has sparked debate in Taiwan’s legislature over whether its strategic value justifies its higher cost after the government proposed raising its budget more than twelvefold next year. At the centre of the controversy is a sharp increase in funding for the Joint Force Design (JFD) programme, a bilateral defence planning mechanism used to assess the island’s military requirements, operational concepts and capability gaps. Findings for the JFD, formally known...