Taiwan is expanding extra combat pay to a new group of troops, good news for support units below brigade level but leaving a slice of the military with no bonus at all.

• President Lai Ching-te announced a third tier of combat pay, adding NT$4,000 a month for troops who keep combat units supplied and running.
• Soldiers getting this third-tier pay make up 32.2% of the whole military, at a cost of about NT$3.57 billion a year.
• Around 13% of the military still gets no combat pay of any kind, mostly staff at battalion and brigade level and above.
• Brigade level was picked as the cut-off because it is the basic fighting unit that can operate on its own.
• This year's shortfall is being covered by a supplementary budget; next year's funding goes to the legislature for approval.

Outlook: Expect pressure to widen the bonus further as excluded staff officers push back, with the 2027 budget fight in the legislature the next test.