Taiwan's Cabinet reportedly plans to countersign the defense-autonomy and uncrewed vehicle act passed by the Legislative Yuan, and to fund it in this year's supplementary budget. Cabinet spokesperson Lee Hui-chih (李慧芝) said on Aug. 30 that the Cabinet had not yet received the bill and, once it did, would review whether it met the needs of defense autonomy and industrial development and weigh its implementation carefully, CNA reported.
What does the act require? The Act on Strengthening Defense Autonomy and Uncrewed Vehicle Industry Development, which was passed on third reading on Aug. 27, requires the central government to budget a total of NT$240 billion over six consecutive years through the annual budget process, in principle NT$40 billion a year. The Ministry of Economic Affairs is its competent authority, with the Ministry of National Defense taking that role on military procurement.
How would it be funded? The Cabinet plans to write the act into this year's supplementary budget, due for approval at its Sept. 3 meeting, CNA reported, citing the Liberty Times, which also reported that it was too late to add drone spending to next year's general budget, already approved by the Cabinet, so an amendment would be filed that could be reviewed together with it. Lee said national security could not wait and that the government would compile the budget and carry out drone procurement as quickly as possible, in line with established defense strategy and operational needs, while working with domestic industry to raise self-reliance in key technologies.
What did the KMT say? Kuomintang (KMT) caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁), in a caucus press release carried by CNA on Aug. 31, said that since the Cabinet was preparing to propose budgets under the act, it should naturally also complete the countersignature. He said negotiations on the bill had not been easy, that this time they had worked to break the deadlock under multiple pressures at home and abroad, and that NT$240 billion over six years was no small sum, so the rules had to be clear. Fu said he respected the act's inclusion of items of US concern and its creation of a national uncrewed vehicle industry development strategy special committee. With the most complete IT industry chain, Taiwan was best placed to become the world's largest drone production base, creating thousands of jobs and tens of billions of US dollars in business, and a second world-class "sacred mountain protecting the nation" was within reach, he said.
