Trump’s remarks provoke talk of raising Taiwan’s defense budget
Trump’s remarks provoke talk of raising Taiwan’s defense budget
2024-07-19
Remarks made by U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump that Taiwan should pay the U.S. for defense have sent shockwaves across the island. In the latest, Robert O’Brien, who served as national security advisor under Trump said he believed his former boss meant that he wanted Taiwan to contribute more to its own defense, and even raise its military expenditures to 5% of the GDP. Looking at Taiwan’s 2024 defense budget of NT$606.8 billion, it only stands at 2.5% of the GDP. In contrast, other nations that are threatened by their neighbors such as Korea and Israel spend 2.8% and 5% respectively. One leading military scholar says Taiwan still has room to increase its military spending.
Robert O’Brien (2023)
Former White House National Security Advisor
We’ve got 18 billion dollars of arms sales approved for Taiwan and we need to get those systems delivered now and not wait for them.
Robert O’Brien, who served as national security advisor under former president Donald Trump, visited Taiwan last year, where he stressed that arms sales projects with Taiwan should not be delayed. Recently, Trump said that Taiwan should pay the U.S. for defense. O’Brien interprets this to mean Trump thinks Taiwan should make more fiscal contributions to its own defense. O’Brien believes the free world is now aware of China’s threat and Taiwan should consider increasing its defense spending to at least 5% of its GDP.
Taiwan’s annual defense budget has actually been increasing incrementally over recent years. It started out at NT$349.7 billion in 2016, NT$355.7 billion in 2017, and exceeded NT$400 billion in 2020. Last year, it soared to NT$580.3 billion and this year it hit a new high of NT$606.8 billion. Taiwan’s defense spending as a proportion of its GDP has increased from a previous 2% to 2.5% this year.
However, military analysts still believe that compared with other nations that are threatened by neighboring countries, such as Israel and South Korea, Taiwan’s defense budget indeed has more room for growth.
Su Tzu-yun
Institute for National Defense and Security Research
In the international community, there is a very important thing: all for one, one for all. It’s also if I help myself, others will help me. Compared with other countries facing threats, such as Israel, its defense budget is 5% of GDP, Singapore’s stands at 3% and South Korea’s is between 2.8% and 2.9%. This shows that our own defense budget indeed still has room for a reasonable increase. Trump’s so-called charging Taiwan insurance fees and alleging that Taiwan steals America’s chip business may be an oversimplification. What he should be talking about is the responsibilities for allies for self-defense.
Since former president Tsai Ing-wen took office in 2016, each year there had been no shortage of major arms purchases from the U.S. Many in U.S. political circles reckon that if Trump returns to the White House, there is a high chance that O’Brien will return as White House national security advisor. This is bound to affect the direction of Taiwan-U.S. arms deals.
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台應為防禦多貢獻! 前白宮顧問歐布萊恩:應提高到GDP5%
2024-07-19
川普日前針對台灣提出的"付費"說，引發討論，曾擔任他總統任內白宮國安顧問的歐布萊恩指出，川普的意思是要台灣為自身防禦做更多貢獻，甚至拋出台灣應將國防預算提高到佔GDP的5%，以2024年我國國防預算來看，6068億台幣只佔GDP 2.5%，確實比同樣受鄰國威脅的南韓2.8%、以色列5%還低，學者蘇紫雲認為，台灣軍備預算還有增漲空間。
[[美國前白宮國安顧問 歐布萊恩(2023)]]
“美國已經通過180億美元，對台軍售計畫，我希望現在就能交付，這些武器不需再等待”
美國前白宮國安顧問歐布萊恩去年訪台，強調對台軍售計畫不能拖延，日前，前總統川普認為”台灣為防禦、付費給美國"的言論，他解讀，川普的意思應該是"台灣應為自身防禦，做更多貢獻”， 歐布萊恩認為現今自由世界正意識到來自中國的威脅，台灣應該考慮增加國防支出，且至少占GDP的5%， 以展現自我防衛的意志。
看看近年來台灣的國防預算，確實是逐年增加，從2016年的3497億、2017年3557億、2020年開始破4千億台幣，去年則衝高到5803億，2024則再創國防預算新高，來到6068億，GDP占比更是從過去的2%、今年來到2.5%。
不過學者認為，和同樣受鄰近國家威脅的以色列、南韓相比，預算確實還有成長空間。
[[國防院國防戰略與資源研究所長 蘇紫雲]]
“這是國際間一個很重要的就是，all for one，one for all，也就是我自助，才有人助，相較其他受到威脅的國家，例如以色列它的國防預算是GDP的5%，新加坡也在3%， 韓國則在2.8%到2.9之間，所以這反映出我們國防預算，的確還有合理增加的空間，川普所謂要向台灣收取保護費，以及台灣搶走美國晶片的議題，這可能是過於簡化的論述，他談的應該是盟國自我防衛的責任”
從2016年前總統蔡英文上任以來，對美重大軍購案，每年都沒少過。美國政界則評估，若川普重返白宮，歐布萊恩有極高機率、將回鍋擔任白宮國安顧問。勢必牽動美台軍備走向。
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