Lawmakers reject Cabinet drone bill, pass own instead

LIMITED: The bill’s NT$40bn annual spending cap would prevent Taiwan from effectively building up its drone combat capabilities, National Defense Minister Wellington Koo said By Chen Chih-cheng and Jonathan Chin / Staff writer, with Reuters and CNA Add TT as Preferred Source The legislature yesterday rejected the Executive Yuan’s NT$210 billion (US$6.62 billion) special budget proposal to buy military drones and instead passed its own plan, which earmarks NT$40 billion per year over six consecutive years.The Executive Yuan said its plan to buy about 210,000 drones by 2031 could not wait, as the wars in Ukraine and Iran showed the importance of uncrewed systems in modern warfare amid a rising threat from China.However, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used