KMT pushes back at U.S. senator's criticism of defense budget stance

Taipei, Feb. 3 (CNA) A senior U.S. senator said he was "disappointed" that Taiwan's opposition parties have sought to "slash" a Cabinet-proposed defense budget, prompting the Kuomintang (KMT) to criticize his comments as based on "insufficient information."

In a post on X, Wicker said he was "disappointed to see Taiwan's opposition parties in parliament slash President Lai's defense budget so dramatically."

"The original proposal funded urgently needed weapons systems. Taiwan's parliament should reconsider -- especially with rising Chinese threats," said Wicker, who chairs the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services.

The senator shared a link to a Bloomberg article titled "Taiwan's Opposition Seeks to Slash Arms Budget Demanded by Trump," which describes this action as "potentially jeopardizing the purchases of billions of dollars of US weapons aimed at deterring the threat of invasion by China."

In response, the main opposition KMT said in a news release that it has "always supported the defense budget," adding it felt "deep regret" over Wicker's remarks, which it said were made with "insufficient information."

The news release also asked why the ruling Democratic Progressive Party "does not agree" with increasing the monthly pay for 200,000 members of Taiwan's armed forces by NT$30,000 (US$950), which the KMT claimed would cost "NT$6 billion per month, NT$72 billion per year and NT$640 billion over eight years."

The KMT said the average monthly pay of U.S. soldiers is equivalent to NT$70,000, and that a noncommissioned officer in the U.S. can earn "NT$310,000 per month."

"The pay of a U.S. noncommissioned officer is higher than that of a Taiwanese major general," the party said, and suggested through a rhetorical question that "raising soldiers' pay is the most basic necessity."

The KMT also asked rhetorically whether the U.S. Congress would "approve an eight-year blank-check budget with no content."