Taiwan is widening extra combat pay to most of its armed forces, good news for troops but a new strain on a defense budget already stretched thin.

• President Lai Ching-te announced a third tier of combat unit pay, backdated to July 1, worth an extra NT$4,000 a month.
• It covers support units below brigade level that keep combat forces running, about a third of the military's authorized positions.
• Conscripts serving in combat units now get the same extra pay as volunteer soldiers.
• The full-year cost runs to roughly NT$3.6 billion, paid for now out of existing personnel funds with a supplementary budget request already filed.
• Even after the expansion, about 13% of military positions still get no combat pay at all.

Outlook: Next year's funding for the pay rise goes to the legislature for approval, where the defense budget is likely to face a fight.