Taiwan: The Taiwan President Lai Ching-te has called for deeper drone cooperation with democratic partners as Taiwan expands unmanned systems development and defence capabilities.
Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony for a new drone development centre in Chiayi, Lai stated that unmanned systems have become an important part of modern defence. Lai pointed to developments from the Ukrainian battlefield to wider Indo-Pacific security and the new centre gains greater importance.
Taiwan’s government made defence modernisation and higher spending a core policy as military pressure from China has increased. Beijing views Taiwan as part of Chinese territory, while Lai and the government reject Beijing’s sovereignty claims and maintain that Taiwan’s people should decide the island’s future.
Taiwan has semiconductor and information and communications technology capabilities along with a strong precision manufacturing base that can support drone development.
Lai also called for cooperation with democratic partners to build a safer and more resilient unmanned aircraft supply chain. The goal is to provide support for peace and stability across the Indo-Pacific.
Taiwan’s Cabinet proposed an additional T$145.7 billion ($4.59 billion) in defence spending for 2026 earlier this month. The proposal includes systems such as drones and anti-ballistic missiles.
Plans include more than 600 coastal surveillance and reconnaissance drones and over 40,000 coastal attack drones. The programme also includes the first batch of more than 100 small drone boats designed for attack missions.
The drone plans form part of a wider effort to strengthen Taiwan’s defence capabilities and domestic production. Taiwan’s parliament also approved a 6-year plan in August for T$240 billion ($7.55 billion) in drone spending. The government has proposed defence spending above T$1 trillion ($31.5 billion)for 2027 for the first time.
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