Taiwan's defense ministry says the opposition KMT's version of a special drone procurement law is too broad and too poorly funded to work, setting up a fight over how the island arms itself against China.

• Defense Minister Wellington Koo said the KMT bill defines "unmanned vehicles" so loosely — air, surface, underwater and ground — that the money would be spread far too thin.
• The KMT plan sets aside about NT$40 billion a year, while the cabinet wants a much larger package focused on three specific systems: coastal surveillance drones, coastal attack drones and suicide sea drones.
• Koo also wants the defense ministry, not the economics ministry, to control anything tied to military purchases.
• Next year's budget already includes drone spending, covering US-made MQ-9B drones and Taiwan-built models.
• Separately, roughly 13% of troops are shut out of a new combat unit pay bump, though all military and public workers get a raise starting in January.

Outlook: Lawmakers are still negotiating across more than ten competing drone bills, so the final scope and price tag remain unsettled.