Taiwan’s Lai Vows to Lift Military Funding After Trump Complaint

President says the money would come from a special budget
Trump has suggested Taipei step up spending on armed forces

Lai Ching-te
Photographer: An Rong Xu/Bloomberg

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By Miaojung Lin

February 14, 2025 at 5:13 AM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Taiwan President Lai Ching-te pledged to boost military spending, a move aimed at showing President Donald Trump the democracy is committed to defending itself from China.

Lai said at a press briefing in Taipei on Friday that Taiwan would boost expenditure to 3% of GDP, though he didn’t indicate when that would start. Taiwan said earlier it would spend a record amount on defense in 2025, though that would work out to 2.45% of estimated GDP, in line with recent years.