WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The nominee to be the Pentagon’s senior official for the Indo-Pacific region said on Tuesday he strongly supported President Donald Trump in saying that Taiwan should spend up to 10% of its GDP on defense.
Taiwan’s proposed defense budget for next year will reach 3.32% of GDP, and President Lai Ching-te said in August the goal was to hit 5% by 2030, as the democratically-governed island seeks to bolster its deterrence against giant neighbor China.
John Noh told his confirmation hearing at the Senate Armed Services Committee that Taiwan’s current moves to increase its defense spending were “all promising.”
“It was President Trump who said that Taiwan, which is an island that faces an existential threat from the People’s Liberation Army, from the Chinese military, that Taiwan should spend upwards to 10% of its GDP on defense. I strongly support that,” he added.
Pushed by the United States, Taiwan has been working to transform its armed forces to be able to wage “asymmetric warfare”, developing more mobile and lethal weapons including missiles, as well as cheaper systems like drones that can be used for surveillance as well as on attack missions.
Speaking to reporters at parliament in Taipei on Wednesday, Taiwan Defense Minister Wellington Koo said defense spending was based on the enemy threat level.
The focus is on “asymmetric” warfare, resilience, bolstering the reserves and combating China’s “gray zone” activities, Koo said, referring to actions designed to pressure Taiwan that stop short of actual combat, such as regular military patrols near the island.
“In fact the president has already promised that we will raise our defense spending, the core defense expenditure,” Koo said. “It will increase steadily to finally reach the 5% that the president has promised.”
Taiwan will continue to strengthen its ability to defend itself, and is continuing with military reforms which are put into practice with real life drills, he said.
The United States is Taiwan’s most important international supporter, despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties.
China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control. Taiwan’s government says only the island’s people can decide their future.
(Reporting by David Brunnstrom; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Taipei; Editing by Kate Mayberry)
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