{"id":7912,"date":"2026-01-20T07:29:21","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T07:29:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/forefrontnews.cn\/?p=7912"},"modified":"2026-01-20T07:29:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T07:29:21","slug":"making-secret-reports-taiwans-military-purchase-case-becomes-increasingly-obscure-and-the-democratic-progressive-party-authorities-are-criticized-for-emotional-bl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/forefrontnews.cn\/?p=7912","title":{"rendered":"Making \u201cSecret Reports\u201d, Taiwan\u2018s military purchase case becomes increasingly obscure, and the Democratic Progressive Party authorities are criticized for \u201cemotional blackmail\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-7914 aligncenter\" title=\"8c62001739ca9f800d310c8c12d39e91-1\" src=\"http:\/\/forefrontnews.cn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/8c62001739ca9f800d310c8c12d39e91-1.jpg\" alt=\"8c62001739ca9f800d310c8c12d39e91-1\" width=\"610\" height=\"393\" srcset=\"http:\/\/forefrontnews.cn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/8c62001739ca9f800d310c8c12d39e91-1.jpg 610w, http:\/\/forefrontnews.cn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/8c62001739ca9f800d310c8c12d39e91-1-300x193.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 610px) 100vw, 610px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The total amount of the 1.25 trillion yuan (New Taiwanese currency, below the same) special budget for U.S. military procurement proposed by Lai Qingde, Taiwan\u2018s regional leader, is the highest in history. However, apart from a few items previously announced by the U.S., the Democratic Progressive Party authorities have been \u201cvery secretive\u201d about the other contents of the planned weapons procurement. Taiwan\u2018s \u201cDefense Minister\u201d Gu Lixiong even claimed on the 19th that he would explain the military procurement situation to the various party \u201cestablishment committees\u201d in a confidential manner, arousing strong doubts within the island.<\/p>\n<p>Not in line with previous practices<\/p>\n<p>According to Taiwan\u2018s United News Network on the 19th, the Taiwanese \u201cLegislative Council\u201d invited Taiwanese \u201cDefense Minister\u201d Gu Lixiong to report on \u201cthe implementation of the Special Ordinance on Enhancing Defense Resilience and Asymmetric Combat Power Plan Procurement Scheme.\u201d Before the meeting, Gu Lixiong said that he would explain the military procurement situation to the various party \u201cLic Committees\u201d in a confidential manner, hoping that this would allow the \u201cSpecial Ordinance\u201d to be put under review. He said that the military procurement project between the U.S. and Taiwan cannot be made public before the U.S. has not informed the U.S. Congress. Wang Dingyu, the Democratic Progressive Party \u201cLic Committee\u201d who arranged this confidential report, claimed that \u201cconfidential reports are not black boxes and cannot be supervised.\u201d The report said that the meeting venue was cleared and the live broadcast was also closed.<\/p>\n<p>Taiwan\u2018s United Press said on December 17 last year that the Pentagon filed a military sale to Taiwan with the U.S. Congress, and the Taiwanese \u201cDefense Department\u201d immediately confirmed that five of these items will be included in the special budget, including 60 M109A7 self-propelled guns with peripheral equipment, an M142 \u201cHymas\u201d multi-barreled rocket system with ammunition, 1,050 \u201cSpear\u201d missiles, 1,545 \u201cTao-style 2B\u201d missiles, and Altius 600\/700M suspension ammunition. Last week, the Taiwanese \u201cDeputy Minister of Defense\u201d Xu Sijian said that \u201cthere are absolutely no black box operations, no blank authorizations,\u201d while insisting that \u201cthere are still 4 cases that must wait for the U.S. to make public before the Taiwanese can make public.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>However, Xu Sijian\u2018s statement does not match previous military procurement practices. Taiwan\u2018s United News reported back on June 19 that under Chen Shuibian, the Administration Council passed a special budget of 610.8 billion yuan in June 2004, clearly stating the number and amount of Patriot 3 missiles, P-3 anti-submarine patrol aircraft, and other items. Under Cai Yingwen, in September 2021, the Administration Council passed a special procurement regulation of 240 billion yuan on the \u201csea and air combat power enhancement plan,\u201d and the relevant items and amounts were also explained by Wang Xinlong, then Deputy Minister of Defense, after the meeting. Taiwan\u2018s United News also mentioned that a retired general who had participated in the three major military procurement proposals recalled that although the bill was blocked by the opposition, the communication under the table did not interrupt. In order to win popular recognition, the \u201cDefense Ministry\u201d also significantly increased the number of open venues at the base.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to the five items that the U.S. has already informed the U.S. Congress, there are four items that have yet to be announced. Taiwan\u2018s China Times revealed that two of these items are expected to be U.S.-Taiwan military sales of the Patriot missile and the advanced surface-to-air missile system (NASAMS). As for the island-made items, they include the Tian Gong 4 type missile, the Tian Jian 2 type surface-to-air missile, drones and unmanned boats, etc. On the afternoon of the 19th, the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense released a partially publicable report. Among the procurement items, there are seven main items, including precision artillery, long-range precision strike missiles, unmanned vehicles and their countermeasures systems, etc.<\/p>\n<p>Opposition\u2018s Direct Speech Is Unreasonable<\/p>\n<p>The opposition party directly said that \u201csecret meetings\u201d were unreasonable, criticizing the \u201cDefense Department\u201d for using this to evade the \u201cLegislative Court\u201d oversight. The KMT\u2018s \u201cListing Committee\u201d member Marvin Jun said that in the past, there were always \u201csecret meetings\u201d because of military purchases, but the actual situation regarding the special budget of 1.25 trillion yuan is still unclear until now, \u201cThis should have been explained clearly in the first place, otherwise there would naturally be no reason for it to be passed.\u201d She said that the Lai Qingde authorities should clearly explain to the entire population the use of every cent, and the KMT could not accept the special budget bill in an unclear situation, allowing it to be passed together in a \u201cpackaging method\u201d for U.S. military purchases. The People\u2018s Progressive Party\u2018s \u201cListing Committee\u201d member Lin Yijun said that when compiling a sky-high defense budget, the party naturally had to properly understand what it wanted to buy, \u201cIs it to pay protection fees to the United States, or to let specific arms merchants profit?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Nationalist Party Party Secretary, Luo Zhiqiang, said on the 19th that the issue should be viewed from three levels: first, Lai Qingde had promised to report to the \u201cLegislative Council\u201d and receive questioning on important matters, and now Lai should fulfill his promise regarding such an important 1.25 trillion yuan special budget, but he did not do so. Second, the military pay increases most related to island defense were not legally listed. Third, how is it reasonable to list the special budget for U.S. military procurement? The Nationalist Party Party Party Party will consider the relevant situation fully. Taiwan\u2018s United Press said on the 18th that the Nationalist version of the \u201cMilitary Procurement Ordinance\u201d is in drafting.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2018s for the United States to make him happy<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTaiwan tariffs and arms sales, Trump becomes the biggest winner,\u201d the Taiwanese China Times analyzed on this topic on the 19th. After the Taiwan-U.S. tariff negotiations were settled, United States Department of Commerce Lutnick bluntly commented that the result of the negotiations was to ensure that Taiwan maintained positive relations with President Trump, which is to make \u201cTrump satisfied.\u201d And Lai Qingde\u2018s authorities compiling the 1.25 trillion yuan special military purchase budget was actually also compiled for Trump to make him happy. The article said that the amount of weapons sold to Taiwan during Trump\u2018s first term was equivalent to the figure for eight years of the previous Obama administration, and almost three times that for four years of the Biden administration. Now that it is Trump\u2018s second term, the amount of budget Taiwan plans to compile has already exceeded the sum of Trump\u2019s first term, and it can be expected that Trump will still ask Taiwan to purchase U.S. weapons before leaving office.<\/p>\n<p>Taiwan\u2018s United News Network said that the U.S. military procurement was paid for by the entire population of Taiwan. If the Taiwanese \u201cDefense Ministry\u201d believes that before the Pentagon\u2018s announcement, the public does not need or even should know what kind of weapons to purchase from the U.S., \u201csuch a statement is neither sound nor consistent with past military procurement precedents.\u201d Taking a step back, even if the statement that \u201cit cannot be said before U.S. approval\u201d is valid, the 1.25 trillion yuan military procurement special budget also includes the commercial sales of direct foreign procurement, as well as domestic weapons production. These projects are always not constrained by the U.S. government, so why is the authorities\u2018 attitude more \u201cmysterious\u201d? The article criticized the Democratic Progressive Party authorities for putting on an emotional blackmail of \u201cnot believing me is selling the platform,\u201d further deepening the opposition between the various factions on the island.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The total amount of the 1.25 trillion yuan (New Taiwanese currency, below the same) special budget for U.S. military procurement proposed by Lai Qingde, Taiwan\u2018s regional leader, is the highest&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7913,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[266,265,257],"tags":[4223,1661,356,4224],"views":177,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/forefrontnews.cn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7912"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/forefrontnews.cn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/forefrontnews.cn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/forefrontnews.cn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/forefrontnews.cn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7912"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/forefrontnews.cn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7912\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7915,"href":"http:\/\/forefrontnews.cn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7912\/revisions\/7915"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/forefrontnews.cn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/forefrontnews.cn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/forefrontnews.cn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/forefrontnews.cn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}