Taiwanese lawmakers are examining a NT$607.6 billion supplementary budget that would fund drones, missile systems, energy support and welfare measures, with opposition politicians questioning parts of the package.
Legislative committees met jointly on 4 November to review the 2026 proposal. Their session followed a briefing by Premier Cho Jung-tai on 3 November, when he urged lawmakers to support the spending plan. The budget remains a proposal: committee scrutiny does not mean the legislature has approved the money or that the equipment has been purchased.
The package is broader than defence. The government has proposed NT$145.7 billion for military needs, alongside a substantially larger allocation for measures intended to stabilise living costs. It has also included increases in welfare benefits and public-sector allowances, post-disaster work and preparations for a child and youth allowance.
Defence items return to the legislature
Within the defence allocation, NT$55.9 billion is earmarked for three types of uncrewed equipment: coastal reconnaissance drones, coastal attack drones and small one-way uncrewed surface vessels. A further NT$13 billion covers seven items, including a domestically developed anti-ballistic missile system. The proposal also includes NT$7.3 billion for urgently needed ammunition and NT$64.5 billion for two classified projects.
The government says it has returned some procurement items to lawmakers in the supplementary budget after they were not approved under a separate special defence proposal. The amounts now under consideration are proposed allocations, not evidence that contracts have been completed or weapons delivered.
At the premier’s appearance on 3 November, Kuomintang legislator Ma Wen-chun questioned why the uncrewed equipment had been placed in the current year’s supplementary budget when procurement would involve further procedures. Defence Minister Wellington Koo said the government wanted to carry out work across 2026 and 2027 rather than delay it further. Cho said the defence ministry could be asked to provide a timetable.
Energy support under challenge
The proposed budget also sets aside NT$233.8 billion to increase the capital of state-owned CPC, Taiwan’s oil and gas supplier. The government says the investment would help the company’s finances and support natural-gas infrastructure. It has separately proposed NT$187.5 billion for measures responding to the effect of the Middle East conflict on living costs, including support related to energy prices.
At the joint committee meeting, Kuomintang legislator Lai Shyh-bao challenged the scale of proposed support for CPC and state-owned electricity provider Taipower. He argued for cuts of NT$50 billion to each company’s subsidy allocation. That was a proposal by a legislator, not an announced decision by the committee.
Economy Minister Kung Ming-hsin defended the funding, saying that support for energy prices helped contain consumer-price pressure and that CPC needed capital for natural-gas infrastructure. The company has accumulated losses since 2020, partly because of policies intended to limit increases in fuel and gas prices.
Welfare and the timetable
Cho’s report also outlines NT$21.5 billion for welfare increases. The government proposes raising the monthly allowance for older farmers from NT$8,110 to NT$10,000 and increasing the national pension and six major welfare allowances in principle by 23.5 per cent. Benefits below NT$5,000 a month would be raised to that minimum. The report proposes making the changes retroactive to 1 July.
Another NT$10.7 billion would support increases of NT$2,000 each in professional and supervisory allowances for military personnel, civil servants and teachers. The package includes NT$7 billion for reconstruction after the Mataian River barrier-lake disaster in Hualien, including embankment improvements and river dredging.
Taiwan’s legislature approved the main 2026 budget in August. The cabinet proposed the supplementary package in September, and lawmakers sent it to committee review on 2 October. Cho’s November briefing and the subsequent joint committee session are later steps in that process, not the initial referral.
Cho has urged lawmakers to complete their review quickly. The eventual size and composition of the supplementary budget will depend on the legislative process, and the government’s proposed spending and benefit increases should not be treated as guaranteed outcomes.
Featured image: AI-generated illustration.
