Taiwan plans to boost defence spending by USD 40 billion to counter China's 'provocations'

Taipei [Taiwan], November 26 (ANI): Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te has announced plans to propose a supplementary defence budget of USD 40 billion.

In an op-ed in the Washington Post, Lai said Taiwan is committed to maintaining peace in the Indo-Pacific region despite frequent Chinese military incursions into its vicinity and drills breaching the first island chain that extends from Japan to Borneo.

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 USD 40 billion budget for arms purchases, including building a Taiwan Dome, an air defence system with high-level detection and interception capabilities, as the US pressures the island to increase its defence spending, the Washington Post said.

"As part of this effort, my government will introduce a historic USD 40 billion supplementary defence budget" to "not only fund significant new arms acquisitions from the US but also vastly enhance Taiwan's asymmetrical capabilities," Lai wrote in the editorial as cited by Focus Taiwan.

The goal, Lai said, was to bolster deterrence by inserting greater costs and uncertainties into Beijing's decision-making on the use of force.

The budget will be allocated over eight years, from 2026 to 2033, and comes after Lai already pledged to raise defence spending to 5% of the island's GDP, as part of an ongoing strategy amid China's threats of invasion, as per the report.

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.

Meanwhile, spokesperson of China's State Council Taiwan Affairs Office Peng Qing'en said on Wednesday that Lai "dines on the scraps of grovelling to Japan while engaging in the business of selling out Taiwan", Global Times reported.

The news outlet said that the Chinese spokesperson's "nauseating" and "despicable" remarks were made following Lai posting photo on social media of eating sushi to show "solidarity" with Japan and its Prime Minister Takaichi, despite her "erroneous remarks on Taiwan" which "caused continuous protests in Taiwan."

China views the democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Tuesday that it is an ironclad fact that cannot be distorted or tampered with that there is only one China in the world, and Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory, Xinhua reported.

The Washington Post op-ed by Lai comes amidst the spat between Japan and China following Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takachi's remarks in Parliament that suggested Tokyo could deploy its military forces in the event of a conflict in the Taiwan Strait.

Takaichi had, in her answer to parliamentary questions on November 7, said that a military attack on Taiwan could present a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan. Following this, Beijing suspended the resumption of Japanese seafood imports and advised its nationals not to travel or study in Japan.

Meanwhile, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said today that Japan should give an honest, accurate and complete clarification for its so-called "consistent position" on Taiwan, adding that a written response released by the Japanese government on Tuesday still repeated its old rhetoric, Xinhua reported. (ANI)

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