/ Staff writer with CNAThe Ministry of National Defense on Monday proposed a 13.9 percent hike in spending next year to beef up Taiwan’s defense capabilities 《TAIPEI TIMES》 Ministry seeks defense budget hike - 焦點 - - 趣味新聞網

Air force personnel assigned to the 5th Tactical Fighter Composite Wing load munitions on an F-16V in a demonstration for the media at Hualien Air Base on Aug. 17. Photo: CNA

/ Staff writer, with CNA

The Ministry of National Defense on Monday proposed a 13.9 percent hike in spending next year to beef up Taiwan’s defense capabilities, with the largest chunks going to personnel and logistics.

In the plan submitted to lawmakers for review, the 2023 defense budget would rise to a record NT$586.3 billion （US$18.33 billion）, or about 2.4 percent of GDP, up 0.2 percentage points from this year.

About NT$181 billion, or 30.7 percent, would be for salaries, benefits and pensions for military personnel, and to cultivate and retain talent in the armed forces, the ministry said.

The second-largest amount — NT$89.8 billion — would be for logistics and maintenance, and would be mainly for spare parts, fuel, ammunition, and the maintenance of military equipment and facilities, it said.

Maintenance costs have risen because of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s near-daily incursions of warships and warplanes into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone, it said.

Chieh Chung （揭仲）, an associate research fellow with the National Policy Foundation think tank, said that the funds proposed for fuel would be insufficient because of a significant rise in prices.

The military allocated for this year NT$2.7 billion to buy JP8, a jet fuel widely used by air force fighters, but the budget proposal increased that by only 170 percent to NT$4.6 billion even though the costs of JP8 has doubled since last year, Chieh said.

The military would only be able to afford 134.4 million liters of jet fuel with that amount, less than the 170.5 million liters it purchased this year, he said, urging the military to rethink its proposal.

Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng （邱國正） yesterday told lawmakers that the cut in the allocation for jet fuel was due to an expected surplus this year.

The military is to spend NT$24 billion on advanced long-range precision rocket systems, Harpoon coastal defense systems and F-16s from the US, the ministry said.

As part of its ongoing reform of the reservist system, the military is to spend NT$15.5 billion to create a more reliable backup force for Taiwan’s regular troops, it said.

The money would be spent to set up new boot camps, reservist brigades and training centers to bolster capacity, and provide more intensive and specialized training, it said.

The budget proposal is to be reviewed by the legislature’s Foreign and National Defense Committee today.

Meanwhile, the US sale of 29 M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems （HIMARS） are to be delivered to Taiwan in two stages for NT$400 million more than expected, data published yesterday by the ministry showed.

The first set of 11 are to cost NT$10.02 billion, compared with the NT$9.62 billion stated in the original letter of offer and acceptance in June last year, the data showed.

The initial set of HIMARS is to arrive in 2024 as scheduled, the ministry said.

新聞來源： TAIPEI TIMES

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