Taiwan parliament approves extra defence spending but less than government wanted

TAIPEI - Taiwan's opposition-controlled parliament on Friday approved $25 billion in extra defence spending, around two-thirds of the much larger package the government had asked for to bolster the armed forces in the face of a rapidly modernising Chinese military.

Taiwan's government had wanted a T$1.25 trillion ($39.84 billion) supplementary defence package approved, including money for U.S. arms but also for domestically-made equipment like drones.

But the opposition, which has the most seats in parliament, passed their own version of the spending worth T$780 billion ($24.86 billion).

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard and Roger Tung, editing by Alexandra Hudson)

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This story was originally published May 8, 2026 at 1:11 AM.