TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The American Institute in Taiwan has welcomed the move by the Legislative Yuan to review the government’s eight-year NT$1.25 trillion (US$40 billion) defense budget.

The Legislature agreed Friday to send three different special defense budget proposals to the committee stage for review. A KMT version caps spending at NT$380 billion, while the TPP came up with a NT$400 billion proposal.

An AIT spokesperson told reporters it continued to welcome Taiwan’s announcement of the NT$1.25 trillion defense procurement budget, per CNA. The Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee and the Finance Committee at the Legislative Yuan will have to review and discuss the three different proposals.

DPP Legislator Puma Shen (沈伯洋) said the main problem with the opposition packages was that they had removed 70% of the budget, including funds for anti-air defense and command systems, SETN reported. Shen emphasized that the importance of those systems could be seen by looking at recent events in Iran.

The removal of non-Chinese supply chains by the opposition would make close cooperation with other democracies impossible, the lawmaker added. He also alleged that provisions in the opposition packages would make future arms deals difficult to push through.