Taiwan needs to hike defense spending to 10% of GDP-Pentagon nominee

WASHINGTON, March 4 (Reuters) - Taiwan needs to dramatically hike defense spending to around 10% of gross domestic product in order to deter a war with China, President Donald Trump's nominee to become a top Pentagon policy advisor said on Tuesday.

Elbridge Colby, the nominee to become under secretary of defense for policy, said defense spending was "well below" 3% of GDP now.

"They should be more like 10%, or at least something in that ballpark, really focused on their defense. So we need to properly incentivize them," Colby said at his Senate confirmation hearing.