Under opposition parties' pressure, the Lai administration has unveiled a
detailed list of the weapons systems it intends to buy with a proposed $1.25-
trillion-NT special defense budget.

The KMT and the TPP have blocked the bill from being reviewed by the
Legislative committee multiple times, citing a lack of transparency.

They have also called on President Lai to explain the bill to lawmakers and
answer questions, but the request was rejected.

According to the National Defense Ministry, 76-percent of the 8-year special
budget, that's 950 billion NT, will be spent on U.S. weapons systems.

Among them are 82 high mobility artillery rocket systems, or HIMARS,
accompanied by 1-thousand 200 pods of precision rockets and 420 tactical
missiles, and 60 self-propelled howitzers, which had all been approved by the
U.S.

Other items of U.S. origin are 1-thousand 500 counter-drone systems, and 70
Javelin anti-armor missile systems with 1,000 missiles.

These weapons to be purchased from the U.S. were announced by the U.S. in
mid-December as part of a $11 billion U.S.-dollar arms package approved for
sale to Taiwan.

Also on the list are more than 200-thousand unmanned aerial vehicles, and 1
thousand-plus unmanned surface vehicles, which may be procured domestically.

The list was made public following a confidential meeting held at the
Legislative Yuan's Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee.

(CNA)