TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — TPP Chair Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) led a delegation Monday to meet with officials from the US National Security Council and the American Institute in Taiwan’s Washington headquarters, focusing on Taiwan’s defense procurement budget and US tariffs, CNA reported.
The delegation, which departed Sunday afternoon, includes incoming TPP Legislator Wang An-hsiang (王安祥), legislative caucus leader Vicky Chen (陳智菡) and the party’s former international affairs director, Lin Tzu-yu (林子宇). Chen said the group is set to return to Taiwan early Wednesday, with a press conference planned afterward to share the trip’s outcomes.
The delegation met with officials at the National Security Council in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at 10 a.m., accompanied by AIT Managing Director Ingrid Larson. It later held another meeting at AIT’s Washington headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, at 1 p.m., joined by State Department China and Taiwan analyst Jessica Drun (莊宛樺).
Huang declined to provide details after the two meetings, including which officials the delegation met and what topics were discussed.
The report said the US hopes the meetings will give the TPP a fuller understanding of Taiwan-US economic and security issues and encourage the party to set aside partisan differences and work with the ruling party on defense matters.
In November, President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) said the government plans to spend NT$1.25 trillion (US$39 billion) on a special defense budget from this year through 2033, pending the Legislative Yuan’s approval. The funding would support advanced air defense and interception systems, the use of AI technology in precision-strike weapons, and the development of the domestic defense sector.
As of Tuesday, KMT and TPP lawmakers have used their majority for the eighth time to block the special defense budget and a draft amendment to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures from being placed on the Legislative Yuan’s review agenda.
Opposition parties said they blocked the proposal because the Cabinet’s budget lacked detail and did not include enough funding for military pay raises. They also called on Lai to brief lawmakers on national security and answer questions in the Legislature. The DPP criticized the move, saying the KMT and TPP were hindering defense efforts and threatening Taiwan’s security.
On the trade front, the US and Taiwan are reportedly close to finalizing a deal that would cut tariffs on Taiwanese exports from 20% to 15% and require TSMC to build at least five additional semiconductor fabs in Arizona.
