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DPP boosting Taiwan's military budget to over 3% will 'intensify tensions' across Straits

Global Times

By Xu Keyue Published: Aug 21, 2025 11:12 PM

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities in the island of Taiwan plan to boost defense spending by a fifth next year, surpassing 3 percent of gross domestic product in the island, Reuters reported on Thursday, which claimed that the DPP seeks to target the Chinese mainland and convince the US it will bolster military spending. A mainland expert said this plan again exposed the DPP's delusion to "solicit US support for independence" and "resist reunification by force," which is doomed to fail.

The expert warned this would intensify cross-Straits tensions and face countermeasures from the mainland and erode resources for people's livelihoods in the island.

According to Reuters on Thursday, DPP senior official Cho Jung-tai said that 2026 defense spending would reach NT$949.5 billion ($31.27 billion). At 3.32% of GDP, the figure crosses the 3% threshold for the first time since 2009, Reuters reported, citing figures by Taiwan authorities.

Cho claimed that Taiwan was following the "NATO model" to also include spending on the coast guard and veterans in total defense expenditure.

Taiwan local media reported Thursday that under the DPP authorities, defense spending has hovered between 2 and 2.5 percent over the past nine years.

DPP to lift the regional defense budget to over 3 percent of GDP effectively serves as a "protection fee" to the US while also demonstrating its "determination" for the so-called self-defense, Xin Qiang, director of the Taiwan Studies Center at Fudan University, told the Global Times on Thursday.

DPP's delusion of "soliciting US support for independence" and "resisting reunification by force" could trigger countermeasures from the mainland, Xin said.

Also, the expert warned that the defense expenditures would erode resources for people's livelihoods, harming the well-being of the Taiwan population in the long run, which would also face backlash from the local public.

On June 26, in response to media reports, which claimed that the US House Appropriations Committee approved the Fiscal Year 2026 Defense Appropriations Act, which includes a $500 million budget for military assistance to the island of Taiwan, Zhang Xiaogang, spokesperson for China's Ministry of National Defense, stated that "We firmly oppose any form of military collusion between the US and China's Taiwan region. Such collusion, be it military aid, arms sale or under any other pretext, reveals the extremely malicious intention of the US to mislead Taiwan into the flames of war, harming Taiwan itself and undermining its interests."

"We warn the DPP authorities that 'soliciting US support for independence' is doomed to fail, and 'resisting reunification by force' is a dead end," said Zhang.