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,...

Taiwan has accused Beijing of escalating tensions after mainland Chinese coastguard and survey vessels carried out law-enforcement operations in waters off the island’s east coast. Over the weekend, mainland China’s transport ministry announced a “special maritime traffic law enforcement operation” and dispatched a flotilla of coastguard vessels into the waters east of Taiwan. That included the coastguard’s largest patrol vessel. Chinese state media said the operation was a “necessary action” to...

A first-term lawmaker who was blacklisted by Beijing over his alleged support for Taiwanese independence will challenge Taipei’s popular incumbent mayor in the local elections later this year. The ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s decision to nominate Puma Shen Pao-yang, an outspoken critic of Beijing whose political identity has been built around his calls to strengthen the island’s security, came as a surprise to many. The former academic joined politics only two years ago, entering the...

A Taiwanese military aircraft crashed during a training mission on Tuesday, killing two experienced pilots and prompting renewed scrutiny of the island’s ageing fleet of T-34 basic trainers. The T-34C aircraft went down at 8.08am at Gangshan Air Base in Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan while conducting a simulated engine-failure exercise, according to the island’s air force. Both pilots on board, Lieutenant Colonel Kuo Chun-nan and Lieutenant Colonel Lu Chi-yu, were killed. The air force said the...

Taiwan’s navy will support patrols around the Taipei-controlled Dongsha Islands after mainland Chinese coastguard activity near the South China Sea atoll surged over the past year. The activity has fuelled concerns in Taipei that Beijing is using the remote outpost to test Taiwan’s responses and refine its grey-zone tactics. Taiwan’s Coast Guard Administration said mainland Chinese coastguard vessels had appeared around the atoll 39 times since February last year, compared with only occasional...

US defence industry leaders are pushing for deeper commercial cooperation with Taiwan to strengthen its military capabilities, as the island seeks faster ways to bolster deterrence amid Beijing’s mounting military pressure. But they cautioned that such business deals could not replace traditional American arms sales regarded as the backbone of Taiwan’s defence. Speaking at the Taiwan-US Defence Industry Forum in Taipei on Thursday, retired US General Charles Flynn and senior American executives...

A high-level American defence industry delegation arrived in Taipei on Tuesday for a four-day visit aimed at expanding the US role in the island’s military modernisation process and the joint production of weapons systems. The party includes 41 senior executives, and the visit was organised by the US-Taiwan Business Council, which has long served as a bridge for the defence industry. The trip underscores a growing overlap between strategic cooperation and arms sales as Taiwan seeks to strengthen...

Donald Trump’s comment that he is “not looking to have somebody go independent” has sparked debate in Taiwan over whether it undermines the ruling party’s pro-independence platform. Trump made the remark after last week’s summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing, where Taiwan emerged as one of the most sensitive issues in Sino-US relations. “I’m not looking to have somebody go independent,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News aired on Friday, adding that the United States was “9,500...