Taiwan Defense Budget Cross-Party Talks at Critical Juncture as KMT China Visit Creates Legislative Uncertainty

Taiwan's special defense budget legislative impasse deepens as cross-party negotiations resume in the shadow of KMT Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun's April 7-12 China visit. The gap between the DPP's NT$1.25 trillion executive proposal and the KMT caucus's NT$380 billion counterbill remains enormous, despite KMT Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen's March 30 signal of a potential NT$800B–NT$1T compromise range. Taiwan's MND has warned that failure to pass any version of the special budget before mid-April risks cascading delays in US weapons procurement timelines through end 2026 — including HIMARS (LOA signed March 26), M109A7 howitzers, and ALTIUS loitering drones. The bipartisan US Senate SFRC delegation's March 30 Taipei visit and AIT Director Greene's endorsement of the full NT$1.25T bill appear to have narrowed the political window for KMT to hold its NT$380B position. However, Beijing's outreach to KMT via the Cheng China visit is widely seen as an attempt to reinforce KMT resistance to higher defense spending by offering diplomatic prestige as an alternative to arms procurement. The KMT holds 60 of 113 legislative seats in coalition with TPP, giving the opposition a majority to block the DPP executive bill even as internal KMT fractures (signaled by Mayor Lu) create some room for negotiation.