Taiwan's military said Saturday that it will continue to maintain its defenses in the face of a growing threat from China. That was in response to the US defense department’s annual report on Chinese military developments.
In its 2015 report to Congress, the US Department of Defense noted that Taiwan's military spending has dropped to approximately two percent of the nation’s GDP. The report said that China’s defense budget, on the other hand, has grown to roughly ten times that of Taiwan's. The report said that China's official defense budget for 2014 was US$136.3 billion, while Taiwan's defense budget for the same period stood only at US$10.3 billion.
In Taiwan, Ministry of National Defense spokesman Maj. Gen. Luo Shou-he responded to the report on Saturday. He said that although Taiwan’s defense budget is below 3% of the nation’s GDP, if needed, the government will allocate special funds to pay for major arms purchases.