Taipei, Taiwan - Taiwan's parliament finally passed a $25-billion defense bill that has been stuck in deadlock for months, as US officials lamented what they called a major "concession to the ​Chinese Communist Party."

The latest version of the defense bill, which passed through the parliament on Friday, falls well short of the government's original proposed budget of nearly $40 billion, which has been held up for months by the opposition.

Taiwanese lawmakers have been at loggerheads over how much to spend on improving the island nation's defense capabilities against a potential attack by China, which claims the island as part of its territory.

The Kuomintang (KMT), which has become increasingly cozy with China, as well as the Taiwan People's Party (TPP) announced on Friday they would be willing to raise their original spending proposal to a maximum of $25 billion to purchase US arms.

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The KMT and the TPP control Taiwan's 113-seat parliament, while President Lai Ching-Te's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) struggles to govern from a minority. Only 107 lawmakers were present for the vote, allowing the bill to pass with only 59 votes.

President Lai Ching-Te's government has vowed to increase overall defense spending to more than 3% of the country's GDP this year. He faces increasing pressure from the Trump administration to pass the original $40-billion bill.

DPP lawmaker Chen Kuan-Ting accused KMT leaders of "trying to disarm Taiwan" by excluding domestic procurement from the budget.

"If we restrict ourselves only to US arms purchases, then if one day Taiwan is encircled, Taiwan is blockaded, how are we going to maintain our ammunition supply and how are we going to sustain our combat capacity?" Chen said.

KMT lawmaker Hsu Chiao-Hsin said the party supported "reasonable defense buildup and arms procurement," but could not "accept lumping together arms sales, commercial purchases, and commissioned production."

Republican lawmakers in the US have repeatedly weighed in on Taiwan's defense ambitions and pushed for the original $40-billion spending bill, which would have predominantly been spent on US arms.

"Passing of the special defense budget is very important to me and my colleagues back in Washington DC," GOP Senator John Curtis told reporters in Taipei during a visit in March.

"We want to make sure that as we invest in this part of the world, that you are also investing and that we're in this together."

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On Friday, the US State Department welcomed the passage of the $25-billion spending bill, but warned that more needs to be done and Taiwan's dedication to defense should be "commensurate with the threat it faces."

"While we are encouraged by the passage of this special defense budget after unhelpful stalling, the ​United States notes that further delays in funding the remaining proposed capabilities are a concession to the ​Chinese Communist Party," a State Department spokesperson told Reuters.