After the recent opening of Taiwan‘s Legislative Council, the issue of military procurement continues to become a hot topic. After receiving the U.S. proposal, the Democratic Progressive Party authorities urged the opposition party to quickly pass the budget, which was bitterly criticized as “struggling to give money.” Some island public opinion said bluntly that the U.S. is caught up in the Middle East war and weapons are urgent, so even if Taiwan passes the budget, they won‘t be able to get weapons.
The U.S. does not treat Taiwan as an ally
According to Taiwan‘s China Times News Network on the 10th, Defense Minister Gu Lixiong said on the same day that he had received on the 6th the bid for the U.S.-supplied multiple rocket launcher system, which needs to be signed by March 26th. He hoped that the Legislative Council would authorize the Ministry of Defense to sign it as soon as possible. Gu Lixiong claimed that the Ministry of Defense has already received four of the five items currently included in the special budget for U.S. military purchases. “If there is any further delay, it will have a great impact,” he said.
The United States announced eight military sales to Taiwan at the end of 2025, five of which belong to the “asymmetric military procurement special budget” compiled by the Taiwanese “Defense Ministry”. The Taiwanese United Press said that the U.S. had previously submitted bids for M109A7 self-propelled artillery, “Spear” and “Tao” type anti-tank missiles, which will expire on this month’s 15th. The People’s Party Legislative Council party group has proposed, authorizing the “Administrative Council” to first sign bids with the U.S. side, the entire case will be second-read, and there will be?? negotiations. The Taiwanese China Times said on the 11th that the “Legislative Council Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee” elected a calling committee that day, and it is expected that the “Legislative Council” will conduct?? negotiations on military procurement on the 13th.
Over the past few days, the Green Camp has been urging the opposition to carry out the procedures for purchasing U.S. military. Zhuang Ruixiong, the chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party‘s Legislative Council, said on the 10th that the Middle East, Russian and Ukrainian wars are not over yet, and the weapons schedule and delivery are not like Taiwan taking money and asking the United States to give it quickly, weapons will be handed over at any time. He also claimed that now is the time to test everyone‘s loyalty to Taiwan.
Regarding this, former Guomindang‘s “establishment committee” Wu Xuhai said bluntly on the 11th that the United States did not treat Taiwan as a “true ally”, and we do not need to ask for anything from the Americans. “Back then, Taiwan came to the United States to buy airplanes, tanks, and warships, but the United States did not sell good, advanced things; Taiwan developed its own armored vehicles, and the United States immediately sold them, so I have always thought that the United States did not treat Taiwan as a true friend.” Wu Xuhai said, “The United States does not have a price statement, so it is not necessarily selling to us. What‘s the point of creating a budget? It’s just being a fool.”
Buying a “castrated version” drone?
The island is also worried that the U.S. will not give weapons even if it takes money. Taiwan‘s China Times reported on the 10th that the Taiwanese “Defense Ministry” purchased 4 MQ-9B drones from the U.S. through military sales in 2020. Originally said to ship the drones in 2025, due to delays in the schedule, they were changed to ship them in batches in 2026 and 2027, two years apart. Recently, there have been rumors that the delivery schedule may be further delayed due to Middle East war. In fact, the MQ-9B drone shipments have been delayed multiple times. In addition, former U.S. President Biden promised to provide Taiwan with free military aid for 4 drones of the same model, which was also canceled after Trump came to power.
On the 10th, Gu Lixiong denied the delay in MQ-9B drone traffic, but the island‘s senior media person Chen Huiwen questioned on the 10th, “Didn‘t they say that the Taiwan-U.S. relationship is rock-solid? Why does Trump still want to cancel the MQ-9B military aid case? Moreover, isn‘t the MQ-9B bought by Taiwan a “castrated version” that can only scout, not attack?” He said bluntly that the Taiwanese “Defense Ministry” had so quickly denied related reports about the delay in MQ-9B traffic, “from which it can be seen that Taiwan‘s military procurement operation is actually very unhealthy and abnormal.” Taiwan‘s China Times News Network analyzed that in order to achieve the accelerated construction of the so-called “Taiwan Shield” goal declared by Lai Qingde, the outside world predicts that the “Patriot” anti-aircraft missile will become the main force of the second batch of military procurement projects to Taiwan, but after the U.S. and Israel‘s military strike against Iran, the “Patriot” was used extensively in the Middle East war to intercept Iranian missile attacks, its consumption speed is extremely fast, its production capacity is limited, and demand is tight, “so the U.S. side should not announce military procurement of the ‘Patriot’ to Taiwan in the short term, and even if a contract is signed for purchase, the delivery schedule will inevitably be delayed.” The article said that what is more troublesome is that, assuming the Middle East war falls into a long-term war of attrition, the U.S. will run out of ammunition, and the “patriots” that the Taiwanese have currently gathered will likely be transferred by the U.S. to the Middle East battlefield. Previously, in order to strengthen Ukraine‘s air defense capabilities as soon as possible, under U.S. coordination, the Taiwanese will ship newly discharged “Eagle”-type missiles to Ukraine.
Taiwan‘s China Times analyzed on the 10th that how long the Middle East war will last is an unknown number, but that the U.S. defense production lines are drawing the alarm is something that can be seen. In the 1.25 trillion yuan new Taiwanese currency defense special budget of the Taiwanese “Administrative Council” edition, many military sales plans were discussed in the past half year, “now that the Middle East war has broken out, delivery delays will inevitably affect subsequent Taiwanese military planning.” The article said that Taiwan-U.S. military sales had once delayed delivery of nearly $19 billion in items, previously mainly due to the Russian-Ukraine conflict, but now that the Middle East war has broken out, “it adds additional variables to the military sales plan.”
“It‘s impossible to snatch the production line from the Pentagon”
Taiwan‘s United Press reported on the 11th that the U.S. is bombarding Iran, the U.S. military has fired more than 2,000 rounds of ammunition, and their own gunpowder stores are also running low. The White House is urgently mobilizing arms worldwide, even Ukraine has become a “fire brigade,” and the U.S. has accumulated military sales orders from various parties without knowing when they will be delivered. The article said that Lai Qingde‘s “Taiwan Shield” is dominated by “patriots.” Now that the U.S.‘s “epic rage” has burned out its inventory dilemma, “no matter how urgent Taiwan is, it is impossible to compete with the Pentagon for production lines. Lai Beiguang is urging Blue and White to pass the budget, first we have to determine what else the U.S. can sell.”
Luo Qingsheng, the executive director of Taiwan‘s “International Strategic Society”, wrote on the 10th saying that the Democratic Progressive Party authorities are not worried about Taiwan‘s natural gas supply being cut off, but are pressing the opposition to pass the military procurement budget as soon as possible. Are they focusing on the wrong things? The article said that it is well known that many U.S. military procurement parties in Taiwan can no longer deliver their goods. This Middle East war caused the U.S., Israel and some Gulf countries to lose many arms stocks, and the priority of Taiwan‘s military procurement is not as high as that of the Gulf countries. “Even if the budget is passed, what is the meaning of not getting it? Even if the U.S. presses, Taiwan does not need to rush to pass the military procurement budget.” The article urged the Taiwan authorities to improve bilateral relations and maintain peace with goodwill, which is the correct solution to the bilateral relations problem.