Taipei - A senior American diplomat in Taiwan said on Saturday that the island should both increase defence spending and allocate it more intelligently, stressing that unmanned systems offer an immediate path to strengthen deterrence against China.
Raymond Greene, director of the American Institute in Taiwan, made the remarks at a forum in Taipei where he highlighted lessons he said Taiwan could draw from recent conflicts abroad. "It is critical that Taiwan not only spend more on its own defence but also spend smarter. And there is no smarter way Taiwan can deliver deterrence right away than by investing in unmanned systems," Greene said.
Greene pointed to developments in Ukraine and the Middle East as examples of how drones have altered the nature of combat. "The conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East have demonstrated that drones are changing the character of warfare, offering enormous opportunities for Taiwan to re-establish the cross-Strait military balance," he added.
Taiwan's government has emphasised drones and other asymmetric capabilities in its modernisation programme. President Lai Ching-te had requested an extra $40 billion in defence spending, earmarked largely for domestically produced systems such as drones and missiles. However, opposition-dominated legislators approved only two-thirds of that supplementary funding last month.
Authorities in Taipei are now attempting to get the cut funds restored so that domestically made defence systems can be completed and deployed to bolster deterrence. Taiwan faces the challenge of maintaining a credible defence posture while managing political disagreement over budgetary priorities.
The United States has publicly and strongly supported President Lai's plans for stepped-up defence investment. Greene reiterated U.S. policy toward the island, saying Washington remains committed to the goal of avoiding coercive change in Taiwan's status and to the island's security. "Maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is absolutely critical for the economic well-being of the United States, Taiwan, and the entire world," he said. "The United States has made clear that we oppose any forced, compelled, or coercive change to the status of Taiwan."
Greene's comments were delivered against a backdrop of uncertainty over a separate U.S. arms package. Following a meeting in Beijing between U.S. President Donald Trump and China's leader Xi Jinping last month, Trump said he was still considering whether to proceed with an arms sale to Taipei worth some $14 billion - a development that has unsettled Taiwanese authorities.
Taiwan's government rejects Beijing's assertion of sovereignty over the island, saying the future of Taiwan can be decided only by its people. The debates in Taipei over extra defence spending and the deliberations in Washington over arms sales underscore ongoing uncertainties about how best to maintain the island's security and deterrence posture.
Summary
A senior U.S. diplomat urged smarter defence spending by Taiwan, particularly in unmanned systems, as the island seeks to recover trimmed funding from a $40 billion supplementary defence request. The U.S. has expressed strong support for Taiwan's defence plans while an anticipated $14 billion U.S. arms package remains under consideration.