Taiwan's legislature failed to agree on a special law to fund military drone purchases, a setback for the island's push to build up its own defense industry.

• Lawmakers met to merge 14 competing drafts of the drone bill and ended with no deal at all.
• The parties are stuck on basics: the bill's name, which ministry runs it, how much money it gets, and how long it lasts.
• The opposition KMT wants a cap of NT$40 billion a year, or NT$240 billion over six years, and prefers buying in batches so the tech stays current.
• Defense Minister Wellington Koo said that cap is too low, since planned drone buys for the next two years alone already run well past it.
• The Taiwan People's Party backs more defense spending but wants tight limits on where the money comes from.

Outlook: The whole bill has been shelved, and both opposition parties want Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu to convene fresh talks to break the deadlock.