Taiwan's government and opposition are fighting over how to pay for a huge military drone build-out, and the delay is bad news for the island's defense readiness and its young drone industry.

• Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim says an annual spending cap in the opposition's bill would starve the defense ministry when deliveries peak.
• The Cabinet wants a special budget of NT$210 billion through 2031; the KMT wants a bigger NT$240 billion drawn from the regular budget with a yearly limit.
• The two sides also disagree on who runs the program — the defense ministry or the economics ministry.
• The plan would buy hundreds of thousands of attack and scout drones plus small suicide boats, all made locally to give Taiwan's drone makers scale.
• Hsiao ties the fight to deterrence, warning Beijing could miscalculate Taiwan's resolve the way Putin misjudged Ukraine.

Outlook: Fourteen competing versions of the bill go to a vote in the opposition-controlled legislature by the end of this month, so the funding structure should be settled within weeks.