The Chinese mainland criticized Taiwan authorities for sharply increasing defense spending in their proposed 2027 budget.

The budget is reported to surpass 30 billion US dollars for the first time, up 18.2 percent from 2026.  

"Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities are going against the tide for the interests of one party, doing their utmost to curry favor with external forces, squandering the people's hard-earned wealth and recklessly pursuing militarization," said Zhang Xiaogang, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of National Defense, at a press conference in Beijing on Thursday.