The recent announcement by Taiwan to finally increase defence spending to over 3% of GDP, to over $31 billion USD along with a multiyear special defence fund of $40 billion USD is only the latest in a series of increases in defence spending both regionally and globally as the post Cold War world fractures. (Lee, Blanchard & Kao, 2025; Davidson, 2025) Whilst on the surface, there seems to be little difference from other nations' rearmament, for Taiwan this could not be further from the truth. The acquisition of arms signifies trust and commitment to both the supplying nation’s arms’ quality and the stability and the long term sustainment of friendly diplomatic relations between the two nations. However, for Taiwan, which only has diplomatic relations with 11 nations globally, none of which has any significant arms industry, adds another layer of complexity in national defence procurement.
