Under pressure from opposition, special budget weapons list unveiled

Taipei, Jan. 20 (CNA) Taiwan's government has unveiled a detailed list of the weapons systems it intends to buy with a proposed NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.6 billion) special defense budget in response to opposition lawmakers, who have blocked the plan because of its lack of transparency.

Most of the weapons systems on the list had already been approved for sale to Taiwan by the United States or been mentioned by Taiwan as items of interest, but they had not been compiled on a list with specific quantities before Monday.

The military said on Jan. 15 that about NT$950 billion, or 76 percent, of the eight-year NT$1.25 trillion special budget -- so-named because it is in addition to the general budget that also includes weapons outlays -- will be spent on U.S. weapons systems.

Among the systems on the list approved by the U.S. are 82 high mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS) accompanied by 1,203 pods of precision rockets and 420 tactical missiles, and 60 M109A7 self-propelled howitzers.

Other items of U.S. origin are 1,554 Altius-700M and 478 Altius-600ISR counter-drone systems, 70 Javelin anti-armor missile systems with 1,050 missiles, and 24 TOW-2B anti-armor missile systems with 1,545 missiles.

These weapons to be purchased from the U.S. were announced by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency in mid-December as part of a US$11.1 billion arms package approved for sale to Taiwan.

Also on the list are more than 200,000 unmanned aerial vehicles, and 1,000-plus unmanned surface vehicles, which may be procured domestically.

Other types of projects to be funded under the special budget are AI-assisted and enhanced C5ISR (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance) capabilities, and expanding military production capacities to meet potential wartime needs.

Not all of the weapons the military wants under the special budget were on the list. Those weapons could include equipment and systems set to be jointly developed and procured by Taiwan and the U.S.

"The United States Department of Defense is expediting internal reviews [of other items]," the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said, noting that the list of items could be adjusted as other systems are approved for sale.

The list was made public following a confidential meeting held at the Legislative Yuan's Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee.

The MND had been criticized by opposition parties for keeping most information about the special budget confidential from public scrutiny, including by holding Monday's meeting in a closed-door format.

The bill that would authorize NT$1.25 trillion in government spending for major weapons purchases and joint development programs with the U.S. over eight years, from 2026 to 2033, was sent to the opposition-controlled Legislative Yuan for review in late 2025.

The two opposition parties -- the larger Kuomintang (KMT) and the smaller Taiwan People's Party (TPP) -- have since blocked the bill from being placed on the Legislature's agenda, demanding that President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) brief lawmakers on the bill first.

Making the list public may not have changed the minds of those blocking the bill.

TPP chair and legislator Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) told reporters that he did not find anything confidential about the MND's briefing Monday after attending it.

He said the TPP was still drafting its own version of the special defense budget bill but would make some adjustments following Monday's meeting before proposing it.