US disappointed in Taiwan's smaller defense budget, official says
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E-mailWASHINGTON/BEIJING, May 11 (Reuters) - The U.S. was disappointed in a move by Taiwan's opposition-controlled parliament to approve defense spending short of what Washington believes is needed, a senior U.S. official said on Sunday.
"Our position on Taiwan's defense budget ... is that it was disappointing in that there was some stuff left on the cutting room floor that we believe still needs to be funded," the official said on condition of anonymity.
"We'd like to see the rest of the original proposed package funded."
Taiwan's parliament approved extra defense spending of $25 billion on Friday, about two-thirds of the amount sought by the government to bolster the armed forces in the face of a rapidly modernizing Chinese military.
(Reporting by Nandita Bose in Washington and Trevor Hunnicutt in Beijing; Editing by Paul Simao)
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