Taiwan’s Slipping Defense Spending Worries Washington

Taiwan’s Slipping Defense Spending Worries Washington

Former U.S. envoy William Stanton’s recent tough-love message to Taiwan reflects a long-standing concern in Washington over Taipei’s commitment and ability to defend itself in the event of a Chinese attack or invasion.

Stanton, who retired last summer after three years as America’s unofficial ambassador to Taiwan but chose to stay in the country, raised the subject of Taiwan’s military budget in a speech to the World Taiwanese Congress in Taipei last month. He emphasized that he was speaking for himself, not the U.S. government, but his words echoed similar American complaints going back a decade or more.

“I worry about Taiwan a great deal because I think the Taiwanese people do not worry enough,” Stanton said. His speech covered many aspects of contemporary Taiwanese life, including the future impact of its near-zero birth rate, but Stanton mostly concentrated on Taiwan’s steadily declining military expenditures.

Keep reading for free!

Get instant access to the rest of this article by submitting your email address below. You'll also get access to three articles of your choice each month and our free newsletter:

Or, Subscribe now to get full access.

Already a subscriber? Log in here .

What you’ll get with an All-Access subscription to World Politics Review:

A WPR subscription is like no other resource — it’s like having a personal curator and expert analyst of global affairs news. Subscribe now, and you’ll get:

  • Immediate and instant access to WPR’s fully searchable library of 16,000+ articles
  • Daily articles with original analysis, written by leading topic experts, delivered to you every weekday
  • Weekly in-depth reports on important issues and countries
  • Daily links to must-read news and analysis from top sources around the globe, curated by our keen-eyed team of editors
  • The Weekly Wrap-Up email, with highlights of the week’s most important coverage, and what’s to come.
  • Completely ad-free reading.

And all of this is available to you when you subscribe today.

More World Politics Review