Taiwan Increases Defence Spending By 24.2% In 2023 Amid Growing Chinese Threat

Taiwan's defence spending jumped by 24.2 per cent in 2023 compared to the year prior, according to an annual global military report by the London-based think tank International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) released on Tuesday, Taiwan News reported.

According to the report, IISS' Military Balance report also found that Chinese defence spending increased by 5.4 per cent to USD 219.5 billion (NTD 6.89 trillion) in 2023, representing a 29th straight year of growth, according to Nikkei Asia. Meanwhile, Meia Nouwens, a senior fellow for Chinese security and defence policy at IISS, told Nikkei that Beijing is taking cues from Russia's invasion of Ukraine and preparing for a "protracted" war in the Indo-Pacific.

China has made moves recently to make it easier for reservists and veterans to return to their former units, in addition to giving the military access to civilian infrastructure and fuel stocks, which reflects how China believes an Indo-Pacific conflict would unfold, Nouwens said to Nikkei.

She said these changes suggest China may no longer see a potential conflict as being short and quick, but rather a protracted war of attrition, Taiwan News reported.

The IISS report found that global defence spending in 2023 reached USD 2.2 trillion, a 9 per cent increase from the previous year, according to Time. The IISS said the main reasons for the increase were the ongoing Russian war in Ukraine and the increasingly strained relationship between the US and China.

IISS found that across the US and its allies Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and the Philippines, total defence budgets grew by around 7.4 per cent from around USD 984 billion to upwards of USD 1.05 trillion between 2022 and 2023, per Time. The largest increase came from Taiwan, which boosted its defence budget by around USD 3 billion. (ANI)