Taiwan aims for big rise in defence spending amid escalating China tension

Taiwan’s 2024 military spending will increase a modest 3.5% year-on-year to hit a fresh record high amounting to 2.5% of the island’s GDP, its president
said on Monday, pledging continued efforts to improve defences amid a growing China threat.
China, which views democratically-governed Taiwan as its own territory, has ramped up military and political pressure over the past three years to assert those claims, which Taipei strongly rejects.
The overall defence budget proposed by President Tsai Ing-wen, which will need parliamentary approval, is T$606.8 billion ($19 billion), compared with T$586.3 billion for this year.
That would be the island’s seventh consecutive year of growth in military spending since 2017, though the rate of growth will be far slower than the 14% on-year rise for 2023.