TAIPEI: Taiwan will introduce a $40-billion supplementary defense budget to underscore its determination to defend itself in the face of a rising threat from China, President Lai Ching-te said on Wednesday.
China, which views democratically-governed Taiwan as its own territory, has ramped up military and political pressure over the past five years to assert its claims, which Taipei strongly rejects.
As Taiwan faces calls from Washington to spend more on its own defense, mirroring US pressure on Europe, Lai said in August he hoped for a boost in defense spending to 5 percent of gross domestic product by 2030.
Unveiling the T$1.25 trillion ($39.89 billion) package, Lai said history had proven that trying to compromise in the face of aggression brought nothing but “enslavement.”
“There is no room for compromise on national security,” he said at a press conference in the presidential office.
“National sovereignty and the core values of freedom and democracy are the very foundation of our nation.”
Lai, who first announced the new spending plan in an op-ed comment in the Washington Post newspaper on Tuesday, said Taiwan was showing its determination to defend itself.
“It is a struggle between defending democratic Taiwan and refusing to submit to becoming ‘China’s Taiwan’,” he added, rather than merely an ideological struggle or a dispute over “unification versus independence.”
Lai had previously flagged extra defense spending, but had not given details.
For 2026, the government plans such spending will reach T$949.5 billion ($30.3 billion), to stand at 3.32 percent of GDP, crossing a 3 percent threshold for the first time since 2009, government figures showed.
Speaking earlier in Beijing, a spokesperson for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said Taiwan was allowing “external forces” to dictate its decisions.
“They squander funds that could be used to improve people’s livelihoods and develop the economy on purchasing weapons and currying favor with external powers,” the spokesperson, Peng Qingen, told reporters.
“This will only plunge Taiwan into disaster.”
The United States is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself, despite a lack of formal diplomatic ties.
But since President Donald Trump took office in January, it has approved only one new arms sale to Taiwan, a $330-million package for fighter jet and other aircraft parts announced this month.
“The international community is safer today because of the Trump administration’s pursuit of peace through strength,” Lai wrote in the Washington Post.
Taiwan plans extra $40 billion in defense spending to counter China
https://arab.news/8cv3m
Taiwan plans extra $40 billion in defense spending to counter China
- China has stepped up military pressure on Taiwan
- United States urged greater defense spending by Taiwan
France warns of ‘provocation’ if Russian drone buzzed aircraft carrier
- Sweden said one of its navy vessels had spotted and jammed the drone 13 kilometers from France’s Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier
- Barrot stressed that the drone could never have posed any real threat to the vessel
MALMO, Sweden: France’s foreign minister said Friday that if a drone seen this week near a French aircraft carrier visiting Sweden turned out to be Russian — a claim Moscow called “absurd” — it would be a “ridiculous provocation.”
Sweden said one of its navy vessels had spotted and jammed the drone 13 kilometers (eight miles) from France’s Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier.
On Thursday, Sweden’s Defense Minister Pal Jonson told the broadcaster SVT that the drone was “probably” of Russian origin.
“There was a Russian military vessel in the immediate vicinity at the time,” he added.
“If indeed... there is a potential Russian origin for this incident, the only conclusion I would draw is that it would be a ridiculous provocation,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told journalists aboard the aircraft carrier.
Barrot stressed that the drone could never have posed any real threat to the vessel.
“The drone was neutralized away from the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier and in no way was the security of the aircraft carrier and its group threatened by this.”
- ‘Absurd’ accusation: Moscow -
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson confirmed his country’s position in comments Friday.
“It is likely a Russian drone,” Kristersson told reporters during a visit to the aircraft carrier.
“We are now investigating it in more detail, but there is a lot to suggest that this is the case.”
He did not believe it was a coincidence that the incident occurred while the aircraft carrier was visiting, he added. “It is a Russian way of acting that we recognize from other places.”
Asked about the allegation, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists it was “quite an absurd statement.”
According to the Swedish authorities, its navy jammed the drone using electronic signals to attempt to break the connection between the aircraft and its operator, or disrupt its navigation tools.
- Numerous drone sightings -
The Swedish Armed Forces said Thursday that “no further drone sightings” had been made and that they were investigating the incident.
The French Navy’s flagship and its escort, made a port call on Wednesday for the first time in the Swedish port of Malmo, before joining NATO exercises.
Speaking to reporters, Alice Rufo, the number two minister at the French defense ministry, played down the incident.
“We cannot describe what happened as an incident. There was indeed a drone, which was dealt with very pro-actively by our Swedish partner,” Rufo said.
The drone had been stopped over 10 kilometers away from “the Charles de Gaulle, which in any case is fully ready to be completely protected, with every measure in place,” she added.
The nearby Baltic Sea is a theater of rivalry between Russia and the NATO alliance countries.
NATO’s easternmost countries have reported numerous drone sightings in recent months, with some pointing the finger at Russia.
Four years into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, there is growing concern that such disruption could be part of hybrid war tactics by Moscow against the European nations which have backed Kyiv.
