Taiwan’s Main Opposition Parties, Voted For The Sixth Time To Block The Special Budget For Asymmetric War From Being Reviewed In The Legislative Yuan.

Taipei City; January 2026: Taiwan’s two main opposition parties, the Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) voted for the sixth time to block the Special Budget for Asymmetric War from being reviewed in the Legislative Yuan (LY).

Failure to pass the special budget could impair Taiwan’s ability to acquire the systems necessary to implement an asymmetric defence strategy and could damage international perceptions of Taiwan’s commitment to its national defence.

KMT Caucus Secretary General Lo Chih-chiang have addressed a press conference on January 08th outlining the KMT position, saying that “once the budget for military pay increases is included, the defence budget is reviewed”, and questioned why the DPP was treating the military with “disdain”. Lo further said that “Taiwan is the buyer paying for these weapons, yet it lacks the capacity to demand timely delivery from the seller and instead shifts the blame to the opposition party and the Legislative Yuan”, and queried “is this fair to the national armed forces that defend the country”?

KMT Caucus Deputy Secretary General Lin Pei-hsiang said that the KMT was not against national defence but was against providing a “political shield” to the Ministry of National Defence (MND) by forcing all parties to go along with the bill.

The current backlog of purchased US arms that are yet to be delivered to Taiwan amounts to 32 billion US dollars. The KMT is using this fact to justify opposition to the special budget and prevent waste and ensure Taiwan procures systems that will be delivered on time. Delaying the passage of the special budget will only worsen the arms backlog, however. Several systems included in the backlog are funded by the special budget, including the HIMARS missile system and the Paladin 155mm howitzer. Delaying the special budget will likely increase delays for systems key to Taiwan’s national defence.

The KMT and TPP refusal to bring the bill to committee to negotiate is preventing Taiwan from moving forward with the budgetary process necessary for enhancing its self-defence. Taiwan’s military must continue to adapt to changes in modern warfare if it is to present a credible deterrent against the PRC. The Taiwanese military will struggle to acquire new systems and technologies without the allocation of additional funding from the LY.

The TPP may be attempting to break the legislative deadlock around the special budget by proposing its own version of the bill. TPP Chairman Huang Kuo-Chang said on January 14 that his party will propose a revised special defence budget after a closed MND briefing to the LY the following week.

Huang met with unspecified US officials from the state and defence departments on January 12 and, according to Taiwanese media, criticised the special budget for lacking specificity on its spending priorities. Huang also claimed that the existing special budget proposal allocated a “relatively high proportion” of its funds to non-US arms purchases but did not specify where the funds were going instead. Taiwan’s MND refuted this claim on January 14, stating that 900 billion New Taiwan Dollars (NTD) of the 1.25 trillion NTD were allocated to arms procurements from the United States. Huang, alike KMT, framed his opposition to the special budget as pro-national defence, arguing that he was attempting to prevent waste. Huang has not released any details about the TPP’s alternative budget proposal, at the time of this writing.

An alternative budget could substantially bolster Taiwan’s self-defence, particularly if it retains the existing budget’s focus on asymmetric defence capabilities, such as reconnaissance and strike drones, long-range precision missile systems, and an improved air defence network.

The PRC led a combined military exercise with BRICS members off the South African coast, possibly signalling PRC efforts to expand the organisation’s activities from political and economic cooperation into security partnerships. The PRC held combined naval exercises with Iran, Russia, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates from January 09th to 16th off the coast of South Africa. This marked the first time these countries have participated in combined military exercises together.

Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, and Brazil participated in the exercise as observers. India did not participate or observe the exercises. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa requested that Iran withdraw from the exercise and act as an observer out of concern for US backlash against South Africa amid large-scale protests in Iran, according to South African media. The South African National Defence Force however announced the presence of an Iranian corvette sailing in formation with the other participants during the start of the sea phase on January 13.

The PRC-led exercise, “Will for Peace 2026, was focused on naval interoperability and joint operations to protect shipping routes. The sea phase, which took place from January 13-15, involved various formation manoeuvres, anti-ship operations, and hijacked vessel rescue drills. Participating PRC assets included the guided-missile destroyer Tangshan, a Type 903 replenishment ship Taihu, a shipborne helicopter, and dozens of special operations personnel.

PRC state media outlets framed the exercise as a military cooperation effort between BRICS states and emphasised the PRC role in ensuring the safety of maritime trade routes as the primary trading partner of other BRICS countries.

This marks the first military exercise involving this grouping of BRICS members, though the exercise is not officially branded as a BRICS event. PRC efforts to expand BRICS cooperation to the security sphere signals its ambition to forge stronger military ties with partners and extend the reach of its navy by becoming more active in protecting maritime trade. A PLA presence around BRICS countries, such as Indonesia, could complicate the US Navy’s ability to access and operate in the South China Sea and Western Pacific, in turn undermining Taiwanese security.

Team Maverick.