UPDATE 8:30 p.m. with opposition abandoning motions

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – If an opposition proposal to freeze part of next year’s defense budget succeeds, Taiwan’s submarine program will be set back by two years, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said Wednesday.

KMT lawmakers initially want to freeze the NT$580 million (US$17.83 million) second-phase budget for new submarines and to cancel the NT$2 billion third-phase budget because the nation’s first indigenous submarine, the “Narwhal,” has not completed its sea acceptance tests yet. They argued it was premature to start spending on new submarines before the first one had passed all its tests, Radio Taiwan International reported.

However, Koo said he would continue to communicate with the opposition legislators because their actions would cause a two-year delay. The sea acceptance tests were expected to wrap up in September 2025, too late to allow the budget to be drawn up for 2026, meaning it would take until 2027 before the project could continue.

Scrapping the 2025 budget would also disrupt talks with suppliers for the preparatory phase of the next submarines, the minister said. Koo warned that the contractors would assume Taiwan was not serious about building the submarines, per CNA. The government has approved plans to build a further seven submarines modeled on the Narwhal, which CSBC Corporation, Taiwan, produced in Kaohsiung City. 

However, following the minister’s caution, ruling camp and opposition reached a consensus to drop the threat of a freeze and call for the tests to prioritize safety issues, allowing the budget to move forward according to the legislative process, CNA reported.