Taiwan's opposition parties are trying to merge their competing drone-industry bills before a final vote expected within days, in a dispute over how much money should go into domestically built military drones, and how quickly.

• Talks in the legislature broke down earlier with 14 rival versions of the drone bill on the table, and nothing was agreed.
• The KMT wants to spend more overall — roughly NT$240 billion over six years, against the cabinet's smaller package — but it caps annual spending and channels the money through the regular budget process.
• Defense Minister Wellington Koo says that annual cap is too low to build up drone forces in practice, and wants it reconsidered.
• The TPP is holding back until the KMT settles internally on a single version; KMT caucus leader Fu Kun-chi says that will happen this week.
• KMT mayors in Taichung, Changhua and Taoyuan are lobbying strongly for the industry, arguing that Taiwan already has the complete supply chain and the engineers to build drones at home.

Outlook: A merged opposition version is expected within days, setting up a final vote on the bill on the 28th.