Ely Ratner is a principal at the Marathon Initiative. Randall Schriver is chairman of the Institute for Indo-Pacific Security. Schriver served as assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs from 2018 to 2019, Ratner from 2021 to 2025.
A common refrain in Washington is that Taiwan is not taking its defense seriously — that it spends too little, moves too slowly and relies too heavily on others. That notion is even used to justify reductions in U.S. support for the island’s security.
As former assistant secretaries of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs — for the Biden and first Trump administrations, respectively — we have each pressed Taipei to act with greater urgency. And we can now say with confidence that the received wisdom is increasingly outdated.
Building on years of steady increases, Taiwan is making leaps in military spending. Its new combination of regular and special defense budgets would drive total spending beyond 5 percent of GDP — 3.3 percent for “core defense” and another 2.1 percent for “defense related” programs, using NATO standards. The administration of President Lai Ching-te has said this represents a floor, not a ceiling. More increases can be expected in the years ahead.
How that money is spent will matter as much as the total. With the right mix of people, training and weapons, Taiwan can help deter and, if necessary, block China’s aggression. The new budget targets long-standing weaknesses by prioritizing small, mobile and lethal systems optimized for asymmetrical defense: drones, networked air defense, mobile rocket artillery and anti-ship missiles. These investments will help Taiwan contribute to the kind of congested, lethal “hellscape” across the Taiwan Strait envisioned by Adm. Samuel Paparo, commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.
Taipei has also absorbed key lessons from Ukraine, where unmanned systems have transformed modern warfare. Taiwan’s defense ministry recognizes that it will need drones in vast numbers — and that it must break free from dependence on China-controlled supply chains. The government is therefore investing heavily in domestic production and research capacity to field capable, affordable drones at scale and speed.
At the same time, Taiwan must contend with daily coercion from the People’s Liberation Army. China’s nearly constant incursions by ship and aircraft into the areas surrounding Taiwan have created a “new normal” around the island, where PLA forces seemingly act with impunity. This “D-Day versus every day,” in the words of one Taiwanese official, compels Taiwan to invest not only in systems that support an asymmetrical strategy to defend against a potential invasion but also in the conventional aircraft, ships and sensors needed to respond to daily provocations. Although Taiwan should lean toward fully fielding capabilities for an asymmetrical defense, simply ignoring today’s aggressive activities would only invite more.
Just as important, Taipei is investing in national resilience — an equally vital form of deterrence. China’s plans for conquest rest on the assumption that the Taiwanese public will break quickly under pressure. Taiwan is working to prove the opposite. The government is proposing spending more than half a billion dollars in areas such as cybersecurity, stockpiling critical resources and protecting infrastructure. A society prepared to endure and fight on is one that Beijing cannot easily subdue.
None of this will be easy. The Legislative Yuan must approve these investments, and Taiwan’s defense establishment must continue reforming how it trains, maintain and operates its forces. Whole-of-society resilience must continue moving from slogan to practice. But the direction is unmistakable: Taiwan is acting with greater seriousness and focus than ever before.
The Trump administration has been right to press Taipei to spend more on defense. But Taiwan cannot and should not face this challenge alone; after all, China’s economy is about 20 times bigger. That’s why the United States must continue to play a central supporting role. Washington should fully use the funds Congress has already appropriated for Taiwan’s defense and, together with partners in Europe and Asia, explore creative ways to deliver weapons and equipment faster. U.S. industry, too, can do far more to partner with Taiwanese firms and expand production capacity on both sides of the Pacific.
Helping Taiwan is not an act of charity; it is an act of prudence. The United States has a profound interest in maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. A stronger, more resilient Taiwan reduces the risk of war and the danger to U.S. forces. As Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Asian defense leaders earlier this year: “Our goal is to prevent war, to make the costs too high, and peace the only option. And we will do this with a strong shield of deterrence.”
Taiwan is now building that shield. And Washington should stand with it.
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