President Lai Ching-te is urging Parliament to approve a special budget of 210 billion Taiwanese dollars (approximately 6.6 billion US dollars) over five years to fund the acquisition of military drone systems, including 208,200 coastal one-way attack drones, 1,446 reconnaissance drones, and 1,320 unmanned surface vessels. This budget, covering August 2026 through end of 2031, aims to establish asymmetric defense against China by flooding coastal approaches with cheap, hard-to-intercept systems. Opposition parties controlling Parliament propose capping annual spending at 40 billion Taiwanese dollars with stricter legislative oversight, though the five-year total remains close to the original plan. If rejected, 63.4 billion Taiwanese dollars already allocated in the 2026 budget would ensure continued drone procurement, but at a significantly slower pace.
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