Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te pledges to defend island’s sovereignty : NPR

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te on Thursday vowed to defend the self-ruled island’s sovereignty within the face of China’s “expansionist ambitions,” days after Beijing wrapped up live-fire navy drills close to its shores.

“Within the face of China’s rising expansionist ambitions, the worldwide group is watching to see whether or not the Taiwanese folks have the resolve to defend themselves,” Lai mentioned in his New 12 months’s handle.

“As president, my stance has all the time been clear: to firmly safeguard nationwide sovereignty, strengthen nationwide protection and the resilience of the entire society, and comprehensively assemble an efficient deterrence and democratic protection mechanism,” he added.

Lai’s feedback got here days after China wrapped up live-fire drills round Taiwan that includes rocket launches, plane and warships. Beijing had expressed anger at a deliberate U.S. arms gross sales to Taiwan, in addition to at Japan’s new chief’s feedback that Tokyo may intervene within the occasion of a Chinese language assault on Taiwan.

China sees Taiwan as its personal territory and threatens to annex it by power if essential. A former Japanese colony, Taiwan has been ruled independently from the mainland since 1949, when the Nationalist Celebration misplaced a civil battle towards the Chinese language Communist Celebration and retreated to the island.

Lai’s speech was met angrily in Beijing, the place a spokesperson for the State Council’s Taiwan Affairs Workplace referred to as the president “a saboteur of peace, a troublemaker and a warmonger,” in line with the official Xinhua information company.

“It doesn’t matter what Lai and the Democratic Progressive Celebration authorities say or do, they can’t change the truth that Taiwan is a part of China,” mentioned spokesperson Chen Binhua.

The deliberate arms sale, valued at greater than $11 billion, is the U.S.’s largest up to now to Taiwan. It consists of missiles, drones, artillery methods and navy software program.

America is obligated by its personal legal guidelines to offer Taiwan with the means to defend itself.

China’s chief Xi Jinping referred to as Taiwan’s eventual annexation ” unstoppable ” throughout his personal televised New 12 months’s handle on Wednesday.

Taiwan final 12 months introduced a particular $40 billion finances for arms purchases, together with to construct an air protection system with high-level detection and interception capabilities referred to as the Taiwan Dome.

The finances can be allotted over eight years, from 2026 to 2033, and comes after Lai already pledged to lift protection spending to five% of the island’s GDP, as a part of his technique amid China’s threats of invasion.

“Dealing with China’s severe navy ambitions, Taiwan has no time to attend,” Lai mentioned.