According to a government website on national statistics, its GDP in 2016 will reach 16.9 billion New Taiwan Dollars (TWD) ($522 mln).
If it allocates 3% of its GDP to the defense needs, it will be 509 million TWD ($15.7 mln) against 400 million TWD ($12.4 mln) currently planned by the government.
McCain’s surprise call for the country to spend 3% of its GDP on its national defense came during his visit to the island last week while he met with the country’s President Tsai Ing-wen.
He then advised the country to invest in submarines, torpedoes and ground-to-air missiles to beef up national security.
His comments came in response to an annual report recently released by the US Department of Defense on China’s military and security developments, which stated that Taiwan’s defense spending has dropped to 2 percent of GDP, while China’s military spending has risen to 14 times that of Taiwan.