On July 18, 2024, Republican presidential candidate Trump gave a speech after officially accepting the Republican presidential nomination. (Image source: Getty Images) Looking at Chinese websites, it is prohibited to create mirror websites. Return to the genuine Chinese website.
[Watch China, October 4, 2024](Watch China reporter Lu Yixin’s comprehensive report) With less than a month left before the U.S. presidential election, security in the Taiwan Strait has once again become the focus of attention. Republican presidential candidate Trump said in an interview a few days ago that the Chinese Communist Party will not attack Taiwan during his term, but he is worried that the follow-up is inevitable. Trump suggested that Taiwan increase its defense budget to 10% of GDP. It is forbidden to create mirror websites on Chinese websites. Return to the genuine Chinese website.
In an interview with a columnist for the Washington Post, U.S. Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump was asked whether the Chinese Communist Party would attack Taiwan when he was president. Trump said, “No, not When I am president, they will eventually.” Trump also said that “Taiwan’s situation is very difficult” and the defense budget should be increased.
The writer said that Taiwan’s defense budget has reached 2.6% of GDP, and Trump responded that Taiwan “should spend 10%.”
On October 1, Jie Zhong, a researcher at the China Strategic Foresight Association, said that even militaristic totalitarian countries may not be able to prepare such a high proportion of defense budgets during non-war periods. He believes that former President Trump made this statement without understanding the budget size and financial situation of the Republic of China.
However, Jie Zhong also reminded that the reason why “overall” defense expenditure has exceeded 2% of GDP in recent years is mainly due to the blessing of two special budgets such as the “Navy and Air Combat Power Enhancement Plan” and the “New Fighter Procurement” , from 112 to 2014 they were 108.3 billion, 94.5 billion and 90.4 billion respectively. However, after these two special budgets were fully prepared in 2015, the “overall” defense expenditure in 2016, after deducting non-operating special fund expenditures, The “official budget” will be fully funded by the annual budget.
Jie Zhong said that in recent years, the proportion of the annual expenditure budget of the Ministry of National Defense in the total budget of the central government has actually decreased instead of increasing. It was 17.1% in 2018, dropped to 16.5% in 2011, and remained at 15.2% in 2014. He is worried that if Trump returns to the White House next year, after the special budget is compiled in 2015, how will the government respond to the Trump administration without significantly crowding out other expenditures?
In August this year, think tank experts wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal titled “If Trump wins the election, can Taiwan still count on the United States?” The article analyzed Trump’s possible Taiwan policy when he returns to the White House and how the United States will help Taiwan deal with the threat from China.
Mark Montgomery, director of the Cyber and Technology Innovation Center of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), a Washington think tank, and Bradley Bowman, senior director of the foundation’s Center for Military and Political Power, wrote in the article that if Taiwan did not With enough defense spending, Washington may not help defend Taiwan. This is the playbook Trump has written for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Montgomery and Bowman said that threatening to abandon Taiwan is wrong and dangerous. This will weaken the United States’ intimidation power and increase the possibility of China’s invasion of Taiwan, which may then lead to a catastrophic war. Increased defense spending by NATO allies is a worthy and necessary goal, and it is the same for Taiwan.
Montgomery and Bowman said Taiwan’s defense spending accounts for 2.5% of GDP, which is an impressive level compared with other democracies. The average defense expenditure of NATO European members in 2024 is estimated to be 2% of GDP. A report released by NATO in June showed that among the 32 NATO member states, only Poland, Estonia, the United States, Latvia, Greece and Lithuania had higher defense expenditures as a proportion of GDP than Taiwan. U.S. defense spending this year accounts for about 3% of GDP.
They said Taiwan’s defense spending was far from “backward” and that even if defense spending doubled, Taiwan would still need assistance from the United States.
Source: Look at China
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