Taipei: President Lai Ching-te on Friday reiterated that peace depends on the strength to deter aggression and urged lawmakers across party lines to back his administration's drone procurement bill as he officiated at the commissioning of a Navy corvette in Kaohsiung. Lai made the remarks while presiding over the commissioning of the ROCS Tan Chiang, a stealth missile corvette, at Kaohsiung's Zuoying Naval Base, where the vessel was berthed. The vessel is the seventh domestically built Tuo Chiang-class missile corvette to enter service since the class of catamaran warships entered serial production.
According to Focus Taiwan, Lai emphasized that peace does not come through a peace agreement or the goodwill of an aggressor. He stated that the commissioning marked Taiwan's achievement in building warships domestically, embodying the principle of "peace through strength." Lai turned his attention to the competing bills under review in the Legislative Yuan for funding the procurement of domestically developed and manufactured drones. He urged opposition parties, which hold a legislative majority, to support the Cabinet's proposal to allocate NT$210 billion (US$6.49 billion) over six fiscal years.
The Cabinet proposal, endorsed by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), aims to fund the procurement through a special budget, designating the Ministry of National Defense (MND) as the competent authority. The proposal covers the procurement of 1,446 coastal reconnaissance drones, 208,200 coastal attack drones, and 1,320 unmanned surface vessels. Lai stressed that the MND should remain the requesting agency, emphasizing that the procurement must not be delegated to other agencies.
The DPP believes that a special budget would provide stable funding, enabling the ministry to place large, long-term orders with domestic defense companies, while fostering continued innovation to keep pace with rapidly evolving drone technology. In contrast, the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People's Party (TPP) advocate for funding the procurement through the annual general budget, asserting that it would promote fiscal discipline and reduce the risk of corruption.
The opposition parties have also proposed designating the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) as the competent authority, arguing that responsibilities such as supporting drone manufacturers, importing key technologies, conducting cybersecurity reviews, and planning drone testing sites fall within the MOEA's remit.