Taiwan President Lai Ching-te has announced plans to propose a supplementary defence budget of 40 billion US dollars to counter Chinese military expansion. In an op-ed in the Washington Post, Mr. Lai said Taiwan is committed to maintaining peace in the Indo-Pacific region despite frequent Chinese military incursions into its vicinity. He said, China’s rapid military buildup and provocations in the Taiwan Strait, East and South China Seas and across the Indo-Pacific, have highlighted the fragility of peace in the region.
Taiwan’s President has announced a special 40 billion US dollars budget for arms purchases, including building a Taiwan Dome, an air defence system with high-level detection and interception capabilities. The commitment to higher defence spending comes amidst the US President Donald Trump administration’s insistence on governments around the world that have American defence commitments, including Taiwan, to spend more on their own defence.
China views the democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory. Lai statement comes amidst the spat between Japan and China following Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takachi’s remarks that suggested Tokyo could deploy its military forces in the event of a conflict in the Taiwan Strait.
