WASHINGTON -- Taiwan needs to increase its defense spending to around 10% of gross domestic product, a figure quadruple the 2.45% it currently allocates, U.S. President Donald Trump's nominee for a key Pentagon post told a Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday.
Elbridge Colby, the nominee for undersecretary of defense for policy, the Pentagon's No. 3 position, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that Taiwan's defense spending is "well below 3%." Colby said he agrees with Trump that Taipei "should be more like 10% or something in that ballpark," focusing on defense of the island.
