TAIPEI, Oct 10 — Taiwan aims to “deter war” by increasing its defence spending, the democratic island’s leader said today, as China uses military pressure to assert its territorial claims.
Taiwan’s 23 million people live under the constant threat of an attack by China, which insists the island is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to annex it.
“Our aim by increasing investment in national defence is not to provoke, rather, it is to deter war,” President Lai Ching-te said in a speech to celebrate Taiwan’s National Day.
Successive administrations have ramped up military spending as Taiwan improves its fighting abilities to avoid a potential Chinese invasion—and to show the United States it is serious about its own defence.
