Taiwan's air force wants record-setting budget boost to keep its jets flying amid heightened pressure by China

• The proposal budget is nearly double the budget in 2016, when President Tsai Ing-wen took office.
• Observers say the boost is a response to China's attempts to intimidate Taiwan with fly-bys and warships.

Taiwan's air force is seeking a record NT$36.8 billion (US$1.16 billion) for equipment maintenance and installation next year, according to a proposed budget sent to the island's legislature.

The figure represents an increase of 26% from the NT$29.2 billion approved for this year and is nearly double the amount allocated in 2016, when Tsai Ing-wen was first elected president of the island, according to the proposal revealed on Monday by a legislative source.

Observers said the sharp increase was in response to fly-bys by People's Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes and their repeated crossing of the median line that separates the self-ruled island and mainland China.

Taiwan's air force has asked for NT$17.6 billion for equipment and facility maintenance fees and NT$19.2 billion for maintenance and installations, which includes purchases of components and spare parts for its fighter jets, trainers, transport planes, anti-submarine aircraft, helicopters and related ground facilities, according to the proposal.

The source said the maintenance and installation fees were part of the NT$133.7 billion for overall military maintenance spending proposed by the island's defence ministry and approved by its cabinet in late August.

"All spending still needs the approval of the legislature," the source said, adding lawmakers were expected to make some cuts before passing the budget between January and February next year.

The source said the increased spending for maintenance costs was mainly a result of the PLA's frequent attempts at intimidation in recent years, especially over the past several months, when it sent multiple sorties close to Taiwan, forcing the island's air force to scramble jets and deploy missiles to warn them off.

"The PLA has increased its intensity in sending warplanes to harass us since US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan," the source said, adding the PLA had not only sent sorties to Taiwan's air defence identification zone (ADIZ), but had also flown warplanes across the median line.

The PLA staged a series of unprecedented drills around Taiwan after Pelosi visited Taipei in early August.

Washington said that the visit by Pelosi — the most senior US politician to travel to the island in 25 years — did not signal a change to its Taiwan policies, but Beijing took it as a show of support for the island's pro-independence camp.

Chieh Cheng, a senior researcher at the National Policy Foundation, a think tank affiliated with the Kuomintang, Taiwan's main opposition party, said that since Pelosi's visit, the PLA had changed its tactics for intimidating the island.

"In the past two years, it mainly sent warplanes to our ADIZ. But since August 3, it has sent warplanes and warships to cross the median line and staged military drills close to Taiwan – a practice that has become the 'new normal' for ramping up pressure on us," Chieh said.

He added that the PLA had sent drones to spy on the island and create fear among the public.

Since August 3, the PLA has sent 525 sorties to either cross the median line or enter Taiwan's southwestern ADIZ, according to the island's defence ministry. The ministry said the PLA had also sent drones to Taiwan during the period, including its BZK-005/007 and KVD-001 surveillance drones and the TB-001 — its largest armed drone.