DEFENSE/Taiwan should raise defense spending to 10% of GDP: Top Pentagon pick

Taipei, March 5 (CNA) Taiwan needs to increase its defense spending to around 10 percent of gross domestic product -- about four times what it currently spends -- to deter a war with China, U.S. President Donald Trump's nominee for a top Pentagon post said Tuesday.

Elbridge Colby, the nominee for undersecretary of defense for policy, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that Taiwan's current level of defense spending is "well below 3 percent" and therefore far too low.

"I agree with President Trump that they should be more like 10 percent, or at least something in that ballpark, really focused on their defense," he said.

Taiwan's Cabinet had earmarked NT$647 billion (US$19.7 billion) for defense spending in 2025, equal to 2.45 percent of GDP, some of which was later cut or frozen by the opposition-controlled Legislature.

President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) later pledged to propose a special budget to raise defense spending to over 3 percent of GDP, though that, too, would require legislative approval.

Colby, a China hawk and exponent of Taiwan's strategic value to the U.S., was asked by committee chair Roger Wicker if remarks last year, in which he said "America has a strong interest in Taiwan, but Americans could survive without it," represented a change in his thinking.

"Taiwan's fall [to China] would be a disaster for American interests," Colby replied, explaining that he was trying to draw attention to the fact that the military balance vis-à-vis China has "deteriorated dramatically."

"What I have been trying to do is shoot a signal flare" that it is vital to enable U.S. forces for an "effective and reasonable" defense of Taiwan, and for the Taiwanese and Japanese to do more, he said.

On the issue of arms sales to Taiwan, Colby said he would make it a special focus to "accelerate and revamp...and expand" them, to assist Taiwan in its ability to defend itself.

While the United States must pressure Taiwan to build up its military, Washington also needs to "make real capabilities available in a timely fashion," Colby said, citing the "giant backlog" of Harpoon anti-ship missiles Taiwan has purchased as an example.

Backs strategic ambiguity

Meanwhile, in his written responses to the committee's questions, Colby said he would oppose a move by the U.S. to explicitly state that it would intervene militarily if China attacked Taiwan.

"I believe the costs of explicitly committing to Taiwan's defense outweigh its benefits," Colby wrote.

He wrote that current U.S. policy, including the Taiwan Relations Act and Six Assurances, make clear that the U.S. has deep interests in Taiwan's security and autonomy.

At the same time, going further with an explicit statement on Taiwan's defense poses "serious risks" of inflaming Beijing, giving it a pretext for military action, and signaling approval for Taiwan's "laggardly" efforts on defense, with only limited benefits.

If confirmed, Colby wrote, he would see his role as providing the president with "the best military options to back up the policy of deterring and, if necessary, denying an attack on Taiwan at a reasonable level of cost and risk for the American people."