Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities are pushing the Taiwan region's defense budget to a record high of NT$1.1225 trillion ($35.2 billion) in 2027, surpassing NT$1 trillion for the first time and accounting for 3.93% of GDP, according to media reports on the island.

Lai Ching-te has previously pledged to raise defense spending to 5% of GDP by 2030, raising concerns that ever-growing military expenditure will further squeeze resources for people's livelihoods and economic development.

The region's defense spending has climbed rapidly in recent years, surging from NT$513.1 billion in 2022 to NT$949.5 billion in 2026. Out of the proposed NT$3.9 trillion total budget for 2027, defense accounts for nearly 29%.

Rapid growth in military spending is a result of the DPP's pursuit of confrontation across the Taiwan Strait, Huang Ching-hsien, a Taiwan scholar and director of the research center for Taiwan politics at Nankai University, told CMG. "When the DPP seeks to maintain a tense and confrontational relationship with the mainland, its approach is to increase military spending."

A growing bill for US arms

The soaring budget is closely tied to an expanding military procurement agenda with the United States. Since the beginning of this year, US politicians have made a series of visits to the Taiwan region under the guise of "exchanges," while in practice pressing the DPP authorities for more arms purchases.

In early August, former chairman of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee Michael McCaul visited the island and said US President Donald Trump could soon submit a proposed $14 billion arms sales package for the Taiwan region to Congress.

At the end of 2025, the Lai administration proposed a special defense budget of NT$1.25 trillion over eight years for arms purchases from the United States. In an op-ed published in The Washington Post in November 2025, Lai committed to raising defense spending to 5% of GDP by 2030 – a target local scholars say could account for as much as 35 to 40% of the island's annual total budget.

Su Chi, honorary chairman of the Taipei Forum Foundation, has argued that the island cannot afford the scale of military procurement being pursued, describing the spending as effectively paying the United States a "protection fee."

Yet questions remain over whether such lavish spending can actually deliver greater security.

According to data tracked by George Mason University, as of October 2025, the United States had approved but not yet delivered weapons worth $21.5 billion to the Taiwan region, equivalent to roughly 70% of its 2026 defense budget.

Chou Yang-Sun, a Taiwan scholar and an adjunct professor at Quemoy University, said US military production capacity has been constrained by the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the US-Israeli war with Iran.

"Under these circumstances, the defense commitments and military procurement arrangements made by the United States with the Taiwan region cannot be fully delivered," Chou told CMG, describing them as "an empty contract."

Zheng Jian, a professor at the Graduate Institute for Taiwan Studies at Xiamen University, also observed that delays and changes in US arms deliveries have become commonplace. He said weapons were sometimes not delivered as promised, while systems touted as advanced could instead be replaced by refurbished hardware. Such practices, he said, expose the nature of US-Taiwan relations, with Washington "playing the Taiwan card" rather than allowing the island to shape US policy.

Military spending at the expense of livelihoods

As defense spending continues to rise, critics warn that the burden is ultimately borne by ordinary people.

With the overall budget limited, greater military expenditure means fewer resources available for education, healthcare, pensions, social welfare and infrastructure, particularly as defense spending approaches one-third of total government expenditure.

The State Council Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson Zhu Fenglian said on August 19 that the DPP authorities have squandered the hard-earned money of people on the island on militarization, squeezing resources for people's livelihoods and social welfare and pushing the Taiwan region toward greater danger.

For Huang, what people on the island need most is peace across the Taiwan Strait, not ever-higher military spending.

"The best approach is peace across the Taiwan Strait," Huang said. "We do not need to put people's hard-earned money into military spending of this kind. These resources can be used to benefit more people."

He stressed that peaceful development and integrated development across the Taiwan Strait would serve the interests of people on both sides.

"We hope that both sides of the Taiwan Strait can pursue peaceful development and integrated development, live and work in peace and contentment, and work together to create a better future," Huang added.