Taiwan's parliament approved a six-year, NT$240 billion push to build up homegrown drones and defense industry, but the defense ministry says the version that passed is not the one the military asked for — a setback for the government's rearmament plans.

• The opposition parties, holding a majority, pushed through their own bill after a three-hour voting fight and no cross-party agreement.
• The law sets aside NT$240 billion over six years, NT$40 billion a year, with the economics ministry in charge and the defense ministry handling military purchases.
• The defense ministry called it regrettable that the cabinet's own version failed, saying its plan was built around actual threat assessments and the fastest path to fielding new drones.
• The cabinet bill was meant to patch a hole left after lawmakers cut a much larger NT$1.25 trillion special defense budget.

Outlook: The defense ministry says it will move quickly to budget for drone forces anyway, but the fight over how Taiwan funds its military build-up is far from settled.