Taiwanese lawmakers spar over 12-fold budget rise for US joint defence programme

Debate has erupted in Taiwan’s legislature over a proposed 12-fold increase in funding next year for a defence planning programme with the United States.

The proposed rise in spending is for the Joint Force Design (JFD) programme, a bilateral defence planning mechanism used to assess the island’s military requirements, operational concepts and capability gaps.

Findings for the JFD, formally known as the Taiwan-US Defence Department Cooperative Assessment Project, help shape force planning, military exercises, weapons procurement priorities and US security assistance.

Taiwan’s defence ministry plans to allocate NT$471.2 million (US$14.9 million) to the programme between 2026 and 2028, including NT$152.5 million next year alone, marking a steep rise from previous years.

Questioning the increase during a legislative review on Tuesday, Ma Wen-chun of the main opposition Kuomintang party and co-chairwoman of the body’s foreign affairs and defence committee, asked what level of American participation could justify the spending.