TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — DPP Taichung mayoral candidate Ho Hsin-chun (何欣純) on Monday criticized Deputy Legislative Speaker Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) for not supporting the Cabinet’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.8 billion) special defense budget proposal.
Ho’s campaign official Chang Yu-yu (張佑宇) expressed regret over Chiang’s decision not to support the proposal, which included funding aimed at developing Taiwan’s drone industry, per Newtalk. Chang noted that Chiang had previously voted in line with the KMT caucus and suggested his abstention was politically motivated rather than an effort to maintain neutrality.
Taichung City Council candidate Hsu Yu-hsuan (許育璿), a member of Chiang’s faction, defended the deputy speaker’s decision, saying Chiang refrained from voting to preserve neutrality in legislative matters, per Newtalk. Hsu also argued that the ruling DPP had favored southern Taiwan by establishing a drone innovation center in Chiayi County and a Taiwan Space Agency branch office in Tainan, despite Taichung hosting more drone-related firms.
Ho reiterated Chang’s criticism Monday, accusing Chiang of costing Taichung as much as NT$500 billion in potential government investment in the drone sector, per Tai Sounds. She also criticized Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) for no longer pushing for the higher spending level she had previously supported, estimated at between NT$800 billion and NT$1 trillion, per Liberty Times.
Commenting Friday on the approved spending cap of NT$780 billion, KMT Legislator Hsu Chiao-hsin (徐巧芯) said the actual spending level would reach about NT$840 billion once roughly NT$60 billion in items covered by US Letters of Offer and Acceptance are passed in the 2026 budget, per Liberty Times. She added that provisions supporting Taiwan-US cooperation would instead be incorporated into the 2027 budget.
TPP legislative caucus leader Chen Chih-han (陳智菡) also said a proposed NT$60 billion fund for promoting Taiwan-US industrial cooperation originated in the Cabinet’s proposal and was initially intended for the 2027 budget, per China Times. However, she said the arrangement was later scrapped at the request of Defense Minister Wellington Koo (顧立雄).
Chen suggested Koo opposed the inclusion because the defense ministry could not accommodate such a large item in its 2027 budget without cutting existing programs, despite the ministry’s claims that the funding was time-sensitive.
Following the exclusion of drone-related spending, the Cabinet is reportedly considering a separate special budget bill focused on drones. TPP Chair Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said the government has the right to propose such legislation but must persuade both the public and lawmakers of the need for the spending, per Storm Media.
Huang also warned against what he described as DPP-linked businesses profiting from defense expenditures. KMT Legislative Caucus Secretary-General Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) echoed those concerns, saying special budget bills should not be used too frequently in order to preserve fiscal discipline, per ETtoday.
Lin additionally criticized the Cabinet for implying that opposition lawmakers were making concessions to China by seeking cuts to the DPP-backed proposal.
