Competing bills to fund U.S. weapons purchase advance to committee

Taipei, March 6 (CNA) Three competing special budget bills proposed by the Cabinet and the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People's Party (TPP) advanced to committee Friday after months of legislative deadlock over plans to acquire U.S. weapons approved for sale to Taiwan.

Lawmakers across party lines unanimously agreed on Friday to a motion to send the bills to the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee and the Finance Committee for review in line with an agreement reached during cross-caucus talks on Feb. 24.

The Cabinet proposed a special budget plan (funding that is outside the general budget) of NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.4 billion) in November 2025 to fund domestic weapons systems and American arms packages that have been approved for sale or could be approved in the future.

That covers the eight U.S. weapons systems costing US$11.1 billion announced by Washington on Dec. 17, undisclosed U.S. items that have yet to be formally notified to Congress, and domestically manufactured weapons, notably drones and the T-Dome air defense system.

The Cabinet and the U.S. government have pressured the opposition parties to pass the NT$1.25 trillion special budget plan, but the opposition parties have issued proposals of their own.

The main opposition KMT proposed a bill with a spending cap of NT$380 billion -- raised from the originally proposed figure of NT$350 billion after final adjustments on Thursday -- that would only fund the eight weapons sales from the U.S.

• KMT proposes NT$350 billion special budget to fund U.S. arms sales

They are the high mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS), Javelin missiles, Altius-700M and Altius-600 drones, TOW missiles, M109A7 self-propelled howitzers, C5ISR systems, Harpoon missile follow-on support, and helicopter parts, with a combined cost of US$11.1 billion.

The TPP's bill set a ceiling of NT$400 billion but would fund only five of the systems, while reserving NT$88.1 billion for potential new foreign military sales.

Meanwhile, a motion sponsored by the TPP caucus authorizing Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense to sign letters of acceptance (LOA) issued by the United States for three of the weapons by the March 15 deadline also advanced to a second reading.

The ministry said last month that it had received LOAs for M109A7 self-propelled howitzers (US$4.03 billion), Javelin anti-armor missiles (US$375 million), and TOW missiles (US$353 million).

In a statement, the TPP caucus said it submitted the motion to avoid delays in acquiring the systems.