Taiwan's plan to buy military drones is stuck in parliament, with the defense ministry warning the opposition's smaller budget would leave the military short of real fighting power.

• Talks in the legislature's economics committee broke down over everything from the bill's name to who runs it and where the money comes from.
• The cabinet wants a special budget of up to NT$210 billion through 2031 for coastal surveillance drones, attack drones, and small suicide sea drones.
• The opposition KMT and TPP want to fund it through the regular yearly budget instead, capped at NT$40 billion a year for six years.
• Defense Minister Wellington Koo said that cap is too low to build an effective drone force, noting planned spending already exceeds it.
• The opposition worries a six-year plan locks in specs while drone tech moves fast; the ministry says it buys one year at a time and raises the bar each year.

Outlook: The whole package now goes to a full-chamber negotiation led by the speaker, so the funding fight is likely to drag on.