TAIWAN has fired a stark warning to Beijing, vowing to ready itself for all-out war within two years as China ramps up threats to seize the island.
President Lai Ching-te announced today that he will be accelerating defence spending by £30.6billion to have a “high level” of joint combat readiness against China by 2027.
Lai accused Xi Jinping of “speeding up military preparations to take Taiwan by force” as tensions reach boiling point in a war of words that could spiral into WW3.
Taiwan has escalated its military spending over the past decade, but US President Donald Trump‘s administration have urged the island to do more to protect itself.
At the press conference announcing the bombshell spend increase, Lai said: “The ultimate goal is to establish defence capabilities that can permanently safeguard democratic Taiwan,
“Beijing authorities have recently intensified efforts aimed at turning democratic Taiwan into China’s Taiwan, posing a serious threat to our national security and to Taiwan’s freedom and democracy.”
Communist China has never ruled Taiwan, but Beijing has threated to annex it by force, carrying out terrifying dress rehearsal invasions in the South China Sea.
Xi even told Trump in a phone call that Taiwan’s return to China “an integral part of the post-war international order.”
China has offered Taiwan a “one country, two systems” solution, but this model has been rejected by any mainstream political party in the country.
Lai’s announcement comes amidst a vicious back-and-forth between Beijing and Tokyo, with conservative Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggesting Japan could intervene militarily in any attack on Taiwan.
The United States’ top envoy in Taiwan has backed the island’s huge defence splurge and urged the island’s rival political parties to “find common ground” to beef up its defences.
Lai said the extra cash will go on fresh US arms deals and boosting the island’s ability to fight a more flexible, asymmetrical war.
He insisted the military push has nothing to do with ongoing tariff talks with Washington and said the real aim is to “demonstrate Taiwan’s determination to defend” itself.
In an article in the Washington Post, Lai said: “We aim to bolster deterrence by inserting greater costs and uncertainties into Beijing’s decision-making on the use of force.”
The comments come after the US signed off on 330 million dollars worth of parts and components in the first Taiwan arms sale since Donald Trump returned to the White House.
Lai, who heads the Democratic Progressive Party, has already set out plans to lift defence spending above three percent of GDP next year and five percent by 2030.
The government has put forward a £22.7billion budget for next year, equal to 3.32 percent of GDP.
The extra eight year package unveiled on Wednesday goes beyond the 32 billion dollars previously revealed to AFP.
Lai said the money will help develop the so called “T-Dome”, an air defence shield, while boosting Taiwan’s own defence industry.
Long range precision missiles, counter-drone systems and anti ballistic weapons are all on the shopping list, according to the defence ministry.
Su Tzu-yun, a military analyst in Taipei, told AFP that Lai’s plan is what Taiwan needs, saying: “Freedom is not a free lunch.”
The government faces an uphill battle in parliament, where the China friendly Kuomintang holds the purse strings with help from the Taiwan People’s Party.
New Kuomintang boss Cheng Li-wun has attacked Lai’s plans before and claims Taiwan “doesn’t have that much money.”
Kuomintang lawmaker Ma Wen chun added that “strengthening national defence is not about simply buying more weapons” and that recruiting and retaining troops is “far more urgent and important issue.
“In the future we may face a situation where there are no personnel left to operate these weapons.”
But those personnel issues may be solved after Taiwan began distributing millions of civil defence handbooks to households last week.
Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/15552691/taiwan-prepare-for-war-with-china-ww3/