By Saadet Gokce
ISTANBUL (AA) - Taiwan plans to expand and deepen cooperation with the US in the future, a Defense Ministry’s Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) said, according to the Taipei Times English language newspaper.
Cooperation includes strategic national security dialogues and visits, joint military exercises, defense industry cooperation and intelligence sharing.
The latest review allocated a separate chapter on “linking regionally to strengthen collective deterrence,” with its first section dedicated to “deepening military exchanges between Taiwan and the US.”
The previous review reportedly did not include such a chapter.
The 2025 review said the US is as an important strategic partner, engaging in close military exchanges and assisting the nation in developing its self-defense capabilities.
The ministry would maintain promoting strategic cooperation with the US to keep the peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, it added.
The previous review in 2021 focused on strong defenses and multi-layered deterrence, which remained the same in the 2025 review, with the latest stating Taiwan’s strategy as exploiting Taiwan’s terrain to develop military preparation and building combat capability on land, sea, air and cyber areas.
The QDR said during wartime, Taiwan would rely on military-civilian cooperation to slow down enemy actions, weaken invading forces and force them to retreat.
Future budget increases would concentrate on strengthening asymmetric capabilities and amplifying counters to “gray zone” threats, the QDR said.
The review also said the ministry would prioritize a special defense budget to increase defense spending more than 3% of GDP.
The QDR is a guiding document that directs the future development of Taiwan's armed forces.
The Defense Ministry, according to Article 31 of the National Defense Act, publicly submits the QDR to the Legislative within 10 months of a leader's inauguration.