Taiwan's legislature passed a six-year, NT$240 billion plan to build a homegrown drone industry — good news for local manufacturers, but it sets up a fresh fight between the opposition-led legislature and the Lai government.

• The law shifts defense spending away from one-off foreign purchases toward funding Taiwanese drone makers, technology, and supply chains.
• Backers pitch drones as Taiwan's next big strategic industry after semiconductors, with uses spanning farming, transport, and education.
• The money is split by role: the economics ministry handles industry, the defense ministry handles military buying, with priority for domestic gear and limits on high-risk suppliers.
• Any purchase over NT$100 million must be reported to the legislature — a check the ruling DPP calls an overreach.
• The DPP had argued no special law was needed at all, while the opposition accuses the cabinet of repackaging a rejected NT$210 billion special budget.

Outlook: The fight now moves to whether the Lai government signs off on the law or refuses to countersign it, which would escalate the standoff over defense spending oversight.