Earlier this week the Legislative Yuan approved an extra spending budget for the Air Force and Navy, allowing the government to spend up to NT$240 billion on eight weapons systems. On Thursday the Executive Yuan announced its plans for the budget, which came to a total of NT$237.3 billion. It includes provisions for coastal missile systems, drones and advanced anti-ship missiles. Lawmakers say the weapons systems will turn Taiwan into a "hedgehog" that China won''t dare attack.

In the face of China’s increasing military threats, which have ramped up tensions in the Taiwan Strait, the Executive Yuan previously put forward a bill to provide a special spending budget for the Air Force and Navy.

The Legislative Yuan passed the billed on Tuesday. The bill will allow spending of up to NT$240 billion on defensive arms procurement between 2022 and 2026.

The Executive Yuan has proposed a NT$237.3 billion spending plan that includes procurements for anti-ship, anti-air and counter-attack weapons systems. The budget plan allocates NT$79.7 billion to coastal anti-ship missiles, NT$69.2 billion to fast and stealthy multi-mission corvettes and NT$3.2 billion for weapons system upgrades for to equip coast guard vessels with during wartime. The plan also includes NT$8.9 billion for multiple-launch anti-air rocket systems, NT$34.7 billion for ground-based anti-air missile systems, NT$12 billion for unmanned counter-attack systems, NT$12.6 billion for Wan Chien air-to-ground cruise missiles, and NT$17 billion for long-range Hsiung Sheng cruise missiles. Pan-green lawmakers have said the upgrades would significantly increase the density of Taiwan’s missile systems, effectively turning Taiwan into a “hedgehog” that would deter a Chinese attack.

Wang Ting-yu
DPP lawmaker
These eight weapons systems are precision-strike active-defense weapons systems. They will turn Taiwan into a hedgehog, and make the PLA think twice about attacking. They will question whether they’re actually able to annex of Taiwan. So, this is very important for Taiwan’s defense, and complements strategies for the whole of the Indo-Pacific region, and for peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. When it comes to our economic development and our democratic systems, this is also quite important.

Liu Shih-fang
DPP lawmaker
Taiwan is moving toward producing missile systems domestically and at a large scale. So this will be helpful for our domestic manufacturing industry and to improve the capability and quality of missile system production in Taiwan. It can spur growth in Taiwan’s defensive arms industry.

Taiwan is hoping to counter the Chinese threat not just with arms procured from the U.S. but also with its domestically developed weapons systems.