# Taiwan plans record defense budget — retained record

> Retained news record from news:semafor.

Canonical: https://highsignal.app/data/records/853849bbe4c0e68a

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source: [news](https://highsignal.app/data/news) (news:semafor)  published 2026-08-21 14:44 ingested 2026-08-22 06:36

[original source ↗](https://www.semafor.com/article/08/21/2026/taiwan-plans-record-defense-budget)

## retained text



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Taiwan’s government proposed a record defense budget for next year in response to growing military pressure from Beijing.
China, which regards the island as a renegade province, has increasingly deployed its military close to Taiwan and has been building new, permanent structures in its exclusive economic zone, in what experts say is a bid to “salami slice” its de facto sovereignty.
The $31 billion spending program Taipei unveiled is one of a number of efforts to respond, such as expanding live-fire exercises to include the use of first-person view drones and simulating a maritime blockade. But while the US backs Taiwan’s increased defense spending, domestic political opinion is divided, and the Beijing-friendly opposition blocked a previous defense budget.
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document fetched 2026-08-22 06:36 · canonical https://semafor.com/article/08/21/2026/taiwan-plans-record-defense-budget