The U.S. wants Taiwan to spend more on defense. So does Taipei, but the struggle in the Legislative Yuan over President Lai Ching-te’s $40 billion special budget, unveiled in November, shows there are constraints on how quickly this can be accomplished.

Prevailing narratives simplistically blame the gridlock on a “pro-China” opposition that opposes higher defense spending. That framing is not only inaccurate, it’s unhealthy for Taiwan and for the U.S.-Taiwan relationship. Taiwan’s difficulty meeting Washington’s demands on defense spending is less a matter of political will than of economic reality. If the aim is to help Taiwan, Western pundits and politicians should stop berating the island over topline spending targets and instead engage it within the existing constraints, which cannot be wished away.

Read the full article on Nikkei Asia.

Header image: President William Lai. By Simon Liu