Taiwan's ruling and opposition parties are once again at odds over funding for military drone procurement, and the standoff could keep the related budget and procurement timeline stalled in the near term.

• The Executive Yuan has approved a supplementary budget for fiscal 2026 of more than NT$600 billion, of which NT$145.6 billion is earmarked for defence items such as unmanned vehicles.
• The opposition Kuomintang and Taiwan People's Party are demanding that the premier countersign the "Special Act on Unmanned Vehicles" passed in August as soon as possible, arguing that without it the budget has no legal basis.
• DPP legislator Chung Chia-pin countered that the supplementary budget has nothing to do with the act, and that any funding under the act would be written into the fiscal 2027 budget in any case.
• Chung accused the KMT and TPP of dragging their feet: review of the general budget was delayed by 351 days, they blocked the Executive Yuan's version of the special act and gave up more than NT$200 billion in special budget funds, and their own version did not clear its third reading until August 27 — too late to be included in next year's general budget.
• The two sides accused each other of "playing fake ball" on drone procurement, while the Executive Yuan said it was stepping in with the supplementary budget to fill the gap.

Outlook: The supplementary budget has been sent to the Legislative Yuan, and the near-term focus will be on whether the KMT and TPP speed up their review, and whether the Executive Yuan countersigns the act.