The Legislative Yuan passed the Kuomintang version of the unmanned vehicle regulations in third reading at the end of last month, and it was counter-signed by the Executive Yuan at the beginning of this month. The long-debated unmanned vehicle budget has come to an end for the time being. However, the Kuomintang group emphasized that it will support regular arms purchases in the future and strictly review commercial sales cases, triggering discussion from the outside world. National defense scholars analyze that it is natural for Congress to supervise the budget. However, both arms sales and commercial sales are controlled by the U.S. government. If the country insists on rejecting commercial sales, it may narrow Taiwan-U.S. military cooperation.
The current pattern of war is changing rapidly, and drones and unmanned vehicles have become prominent in asymmetric warfare. At the end of August, the Legislative Yuan passed the six-year, 240 billion "Regulations on Strengthening National Defense Independence and Unmanned Vehicle Industry Development" in its third reading. The Kuomintang caucus also pointed out that in the future, it will support "regular arms purchases and strict review of commercial sales" to eliminate potential drawbacks, sparking discussion.
At the "2026 International Forum on Whole-of-Society Defense Resilience" on the 19th, Palmer, the founder of the US military unicorn "Anduril" Luckey said that in the past year, more than 15 Taiwanese companies have been included in its global supply chain, covering fields such as precision machining parts, batteries, motors, electronics and optics. This year (2026), the purchase amount with local suppliers in Taiwan is expected to be 15 times. In the future, it will continue to recruit Taiwanese talents to improve business efficiency such as project delivery, engineering research and development, and procurement.
When looking at Taiwan-U.S. security cooperation from the perspective of arms sales and commercial sales, Su Ziyun, director of the Institute of Strategy at the National Defense Academy, said that the Taiwan-U.S. military has indeed used "arms sales" as the evaluation benchmark in the past. However, arms sales involve government-to-government review, lengthy procedures, and are mostly limited to large-scale traditional military affairs. They should not be regarded as the only indicator of Taiwan-U.S. security cooperation. In comparison, commercial sales are also controlled by the U.S. federal government's "International Traffic in Arms Regulations, but review and delivery are faster, and the rapid iteration of drone combat capabilities is more in line with the needs of the military."
He further pointed out that the Chinese military sent personnel to the United States for training, and U.S. military instructors commonly known as "American English teachers" came to Taiwan to assist in training, as well as logistical support and security assistance programs such as military aid and ammunition supplies. In fact, they were also deeper security cooperation between Taiwan and the United States. This once again highlighted that arms sales are not the "only indicator" to measure Taiwan-U.S. relations.
Regarding Congress's support for arms purchases and strict scrutiny of commercial purchases, Su Ziyun bluntly said that congressional supervision is natural, but legislation and executive power should complement each other. If the former interferes too much with the latter, it will not only increase the time cost, but also be disproportionate to the principle of defense procurement facing specific threats, further "narrowing" Taiwan-US military cooperation.
