Taiwan Allocates IDR 665 Trillion To Buy Weapons And Build Defense Domes

Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te on Wednesday announced a special budget of US$40 billion (Rp665,364,000,000,000) for arms purchases, including building an air defense system with high-level detection and interception capabilities called Taiwan Dome.

The budget will be allocated for eight years, from 2026 to 2033, and comes after Lai pledged to increase the defense budget to 5 percent of the island's GDP, as part of its strategy amid the threat of a Chinese invasion, as well as US pressure on the island to increase its defense budget.

"Chinese threats against Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific region are increasing," said President Lai, launching Al Arabiya from the Associated Press on November 27.

"Recently, various types of military intrusion, maritime gray zones, and disinformation campaigns have occurred in Japan, the Philippines, and around the Taiwan Strait, which has caused deep unrest and pressure to all parties in the region," he explained.

"Taiwan, as the most important and most crucial part of the first island series, must show our determination and take on greater responsibility in defending ourselves," President Lai said, referring to a series of islands stretching from the East China Sea in Japan to the Philippines in the Pacific Ocean.

Currently, Taiwan has set its defense budget increase to 3.3 percent of GDP for 2026, allocating 949.5 billion Taiwan dollars (about 31.18 billion US dollars).

President Lai has provided a preview of the announcement in an opinion on The Washington Post on Wednesday, saying the special budget will be used to buy weapons from the US.

However, he said the budget had nothing to do with negotiating government rates with the US.

Taiwan's Defense Minister Wellington Koo said on Wednesday the value of $ 40 billion was an upper limit to the special budget and would be used to purchase precision attack missiles and seek to develop and joint procurement between Taiwan and the US in terms of equipment and systems.

Separately, United States President Donald Trump has demanded Taiwan to increase its defense budget by up to 10 percent of GDP, a proportion far above US spending or its main allies.

The US State Department on Wednesday said it welcomed Taiwan's budget announcement and "supported Taiwan's acquisition of its crucial defense capabilities, commensurate with the threats it faces."

They also said they welcomed Lai's commitment to increasing the defense budget to at least 5 percent of GDP by 2030, "which demonstrates the determination to strengthen Taiwan's self-defense capabilities."