Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te said on Thursday that the island is committed to protecting its sovereignty and strengthening its defense amid China’s growing military pressure, following Beijing’s rocket launches near Taiwan during drills, Reuters reported.
In a New Year’s address broadcast live from the presidential office in Taipei, Lai added that the world is watching to see if the people of Taiwan are willing and able to defend themselves.
“As president, my stance has always been clear: to resolutely defend national sovereignty and strengthen national defence,” Lai said, noting China had targeted Taiwan’s newly added combat capabilities as a “hypothetical adversary” in their drills this week.
He said that demonstrated the need for increasing defence procurement, urging opposition parties to support his plan to boost Taiwan’s defence spending by $40 billion, a proposal currently stuck alongside other issues in a political deadlock in the opposition-controlled parliament.
