Taiwan's 2027 defence spending to rise 16%

Taiwan's cabinet will propose a 16% annual rise in defence ‌spending for 2027 which will for the first time exceed T$1 trillion ($31 billion), the official Central News Agency said on Sunday, as Taipei bolsters its military, Report informs via Reuters.

The move will come as China, which views Taiwan as its own ​territory, has ramped up military and political pressure over the past few years to assert ​its claims, which Taipei strongly rejects.

But Taiwan also faces calls from Washington to ⁠spend more on its own defence, mirroring pressure from the United States on Europe, something President ​Lai Ching-te has enthusiastically embraced.

The proposed budget of more than T$1.1 trillion, to be unveiled on August 20, ​includes funding for the coast guard, veterans and special projects, and will - like this year - exceed 3% of gross domestic product, the Central News Agency said.

Detailed figures await the final cabinet meeting, it added.

The island's government has made military modernisation ​a key policy platform and has repeatedly pledged to spend more on its defences, including developing ​made-in-Taiwan submarines, given the rising threat from China.

China's military operates almost daily around Taiwan, and holds periodic war games, the ‌last ⁠in late December.

China is also rapidly modernising its armed forces, with new aircraft carriers, stealth fighter jets and missiles.

In March, China unveiled a rise of 7% in this year's defence spending, to 1.91 trillion yuan ($283.08 billion).

China refuses to talk to Lai, saying he is a "separatist". He says only Taiwan's people can decide ​their future.

Taiwan is currently in ​the middle of ⁠its annual Han Kuang military exercises.

On Taiwan's east coast on Sunday, the military also carried out a nuclear, biological and chemical decontamination drill, simulating a chemical weapons attack.

Soldiers, tanks ⁠and armoured ​vehicles were decontaminated and disinfected in a drill aimed at ​testing the ability to respond quickly to such an event and get personnel and equipment back out to the front lines as ​soon as possible.