The hard political fact is that while the Tsai administration did an admirable job of increasing defense-spending levels from US$11 billion in 2018 to US$19 billion in 2023 (special defense budgets included), Taiwan will need to spend even more to get its defenses where they need to be. That Taiwan already spends 22 percent of its national budget on defense means its elected leaders must be prepared to make difficult changes to existing fiscal and tax policies.43
