Agence France-Presse, Taiwan’s cabinet agreed Wednesday to grow military spending by nearly 15 percent in next year’s budget in an apparent signal of its resolve against rival China.
Under a draft budget, which has to be confirmed by parliament, the defense ministry is setting aside 345.9 billion Taiwan dollars ($10.5 billion U.S.), up 44.6 billion Taiwan dollars, the cabinet said in a statement.
The rise in spending is mainly aimed at financing procurement of military equipment, including U.S.-made P-3C submarine-hunting aircraft.
Washington, the island’s leading arms supplier despite not having formal diplomatic ties, has repeatedly asked Taipei to display its determination to defend itself by boosting military spending.
The Chinese government announced in May the biggest increase in its military budget in recent years, saying its spending in 2007 would rise 17.8 percent from last year to 350.9 billion yuan (about $45 billion).
Reunification with Taiwan is one of China’s long-term strategic objectives, and analysts have said Beijing is beefing up its military partly to enable it to take the island back by force if necessary.
China and Taiwan have been separated since the end of a civil war in 1949, but Beijing still considers the island part of its territory.
Taiwan has been led since the turn of the century by independence-leaning President Chen Shui-bian, exacerbating fears in Beijing that the island could break away for good.
