By Ben Blanchard and Faith Hung
TAIPEI (Reuters) -Taiwan&nbsp;will spend an extra T$94.3&nbsp;billion&nbsp;($2.97&nbsp;billion) to buy&nbsp;weapons&nbsp;next year including fighter jets to bolster its defences against China, the government said on Thursday, and will get a further&nbsp;boost&nbsp;from&nbsp;new&nbsp;F-16&nbsp;fighter jet tracking systems.
China, which views democratically governed&nbsp;Taiwan&nbsp;as its own territory, has ramped up military and political pressure over the past three years to assert those claims, which Taipei strongly rejects.
Taiwan&nbsp;President Tsai Ing-wen already announced on Monday that overall proposed defence&nbsp;spending&nbsp;for 2024 would be set at T$606.8&nbsp;billion, a 3.5% increase from the previous year.
About half of the T$94.3&nbsp;billion&nbsp;additional spend would be used to purchase fighter jets, and the remainder will go into bolstering naval defences, the government's statistics department said after a cabinet meeting to discuss the budget.
The United States on Wednesday approved a possible $500 million sale to&nbsp;Taiwan&nbsp;of infrared search and track systems for F-16&nbsp;fighter jets, as well as other equipment.
Taiwan&nbsp;deputy defence minister Po Horng-huei told reporters the search and tracking systems were the same as those used by F-35 and F-22 fighters, among the most advanced the United States operates.
"These will help to target the J-20 stealth fighter over the&nbsp;Taiwan&nbsp;Strait in the future," Po said, referring to the&nbsp;new&nbsp;generation of Chinese jets.
It will allow&nbsp;Taiwan&nbsp;to more effectively deter Chinese air activity, he added.
China, which routinely denounces any foreign arms sales to&nbsp;Taiwan, urged the United States to immediately cancel the planned sale, its foreign ministry said.
Taiwan's defence budget will have to be approved by parliament, where Tsai's Democratic Progressive Party has a majority. The island's defence&nbsp;spending&nbsp;for next year will amount to 2.5% of its gross domestic product.
Tsai has overseen a military modernisation programme to make the armed forces better able to face China, including upgrading a fleet of F-16&nbsp;fighter jets and developing submarines.
Tsai said on Monday the first prototype indigenous submarine was expected to be unveiled next month as scheduled.
Taiwan&nbsp;has been converting 141 F-16A/B jets into the F-16V type and has ordered 66&nbsp;new&nbsp;F-16Vs, which have advanced avionics,&nbsp;weapons&nbsp;and radar systems to better face down the Chinese air force, including its J-20 stealth fighters.
($1=31.7490&nbsp;Taiwan&nbsp;dollars)
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard and Faith Hung; Additional reporting by Andrew Hayley in Beijing; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Miral Fahmy)

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Taiwan proposes $3 billion spending on new weapons, gets F-16 boost