KMT’s defense bill ‘highly unfeasible’: Ex-KMT lawmakerStaff Writer, with CNAA NT$380 billion (US$11.89 billion) spending cap on weapons systems approved by Washington for sale to Taiwan proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is “highly unfeasible” and should be raised to at least NT$800 billion, former KMT lawmaker Jason Hsu (許 毓仁) said yesterday. The KMT’s defense bill, currently under review at the Legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, would fund eight systems announced by the United States in December, with a follow-on budget proposed by the Ministry of National Defense in the event of new U.S. arms sale packages. Former Chinese Nationalist Party legislator Jason Hsu attends a meeting in the legislature in Taipei in this undated photograph. Later in the day, President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) also noted the omission of drones and AI-assisted command and control systems in the KMT’s and the TPP’s bills. Excluding these critical systems shows the opposition’s lack of understanding of modern warfare, Lai said at the Democratic Progressive Party’s Central Standing Committee meeting in Taipei, calling on nonpartisan support for the Cabinet’s “comprehensive” special defense budget bill.

Source: Taipei Times March 25, 2026 17:13 UTC