Taiwan's military is reshuffling its spending priorities as pressure from China grows, shifting money toward urgent needs and pushing back everything else.

• Taiwan's defence ministry sent its 2027 budget and a five-year military buildup plan to parliament, along with a report on Chinese military strength.
• Every past spending item is being reviewed, and anything not urgent gets delayed so money goes to the most pressing needs first.
• China's grey-zone pressure — constant plane and ship incursions, coast guard patrols, sea militia, legal and information warfare, and economic squeezing — is described as worse than before, aimed at treating the Taiwan Strait as Chinese waters.
• The worry is that Beijing can turn a drill into a real attack with little warning, so buying leans toward drones, attack boats, anti-drone gear, air defence missiles, night-fighting equipment and backup fibre-optic communications around the island.
• Lessons from the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East are shaping the shopping list, alongside US purchases including HIMARS rocket launchers, self-propelled artillery and loitering attack drones.

Outlook: Expect Taiwan's spending to keep tilting toward cheap, fast-strike weapons and resilient communications, with older equipment retired and slower programmes pushed further out.