US Diplomat: Taiwan Needs 'Hornet's Nest' of Drones
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- Raymond Greene, director of the American Institute in Taiwan and de facto US ambassador, told a July 2 drone forum in Taichung that drones are a "game-changing opportunity" and urged turning Taiwan into a "hornet's nest" of air, surface, and subsurface drones.
- Greene invoked Ukraine as proof that drones significantly boost defenders facing overwhelming odds and proposed anchoring "democratic" drone production with Taiwan to reinforce deterrence across the region.
- Taiwan's opposition-dominated parliament in May approved only two-thirds of the US$40 billion (S$51.8 billion) in extra defense spending President Lai Ching-te had requested, and earmarked the funds solely for US arms.
- Taiwan's government has since proposed a new NT$210 billion (S$8.5 billion) package for surveillance, coastal attack, and small unmanned surface drones running through 2031.
- The Kuomintang (KMT) countered this week with its own drone legislation capping spending at NT$240 billion over six years, with annual outlays capped at NT$40 billion, and funded from the main budget rather than a special one.
- President Lai Ching-te said on July 1 that building asymmetric combat capabilities is "a race against time," while rejecting Beijing's sovereignty claims over the island.
Why it matters: The real fight isn't over whether to build a drone fleet — both DPP and KMT plans total roughly NT$210–240 billion — but over which fiscal track pays for it: a special budget the government wants versus the regular budget the KMT prefers, a split that could slow procurement just as Beijing's military pressure mounts.
