Survey: 60% in Taiwan back defense budget to 3% of GDP

TAIPEI (TVBS News) — Nearly 60% of Taiwanese people support increasing the national defense budget to 3% of GDP, according to a survey released by the Institute for National Defense and Security Research (INDSR) this week

According to INDSR researcher Lee Kuan-chen, the survey released on Monday (Dec. 11) revealed that around 9% of respondents believe that the current defense budget is very insufficient, while 46% consider it to be insufficient, totaling around 55% think the defense spending needs a boost.

The survey also showed that when asked if they support cutting other government expenditures to raise the defense budget to 3% of GDP, nearly 60% of the full sample expressed approval.

Whether they would favor paying more taxes to achieve a defense budget constituting 3% of GDP, the approval rate stood at around 41%.

The poll was commissioned by the INDSR and conducted by the National Chengchi University Election Study Center using the LimeSurvey online system, gathering a total of 1,214 complete responses from Nov. 12 to Nov. 13.