Taiwan’s opposition-controlled parliament on Friday blocked the government’s proposed spending of $6.6 billion on domestically produced drones that could be used to defend the island against a possible Chinese attack.
President Lai Ching-te’s government has been at odds for months with the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) over how much to spend on improving the island democracy’s defense capabilities against China.
China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has threatened to occupy it by force if necessary.
Lai’s government wants to allocate up to NT$210 billion ($6.6 billion) over five years for Taiwan-made unmanned vehicles, including coastal surveillance, attack and surface drones.
But the KMT and TPP, which hold the majority of seats in parliament, refused on Friday to consider the bill while they came up with their own versions.
KMT lawmaker Hsu Yu-chen said the party “supports the development of unmanned systems and the drone industry” and will propose its own version.
“We hope that all parties can discuss the different versions after they are proposed,” Hsu told AFP.
Cabinet spokesperson Michelle Lee said that “efforts towards defense self-reliance and the development of critical national industrial (supply) chains must not be hindered by politics”.
Chung Chia-pin, a lawmaker for Lai’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), criticized the opposition for the obstruction.
“If next week or the week after they come out with their version, will they agree at that point to allow other versions to be considered?” he told AFP.
“If this happens, it will only further prove that they are backward and deceitful.
“They haven’t even crossed the starting line, but they won’t let anyone else run either.”
KMT lawmaker Ma Wen-chun said the party “cannot accept” the government’s latest bill.
“It just brings back the parts we opposed in the past,” Ma told AFP.
“For the overall development of the industry or of drones, we hoped that they would present a concrete and comprehensive vision and plan, and basically allocate funds through the annual budget, instead of constantly using special budgets as before.”
In May, the KMT and TPP approved a special defense budget of $25 billion, reducing the amount requested by the DPP by a third.
The opposition scrapped about $15 billion that the government had wanted to use for domestic procurement of drones and other efforts to boost defense.
