Taiwan will prepare itself for combat within the next two years amid “intensifying” threats from China, the nation’s president has declared.
Lai Ching-te held a news conference on Wednesday morning amid a ramping up of military and political pressure by Beijing, which views the democratically-governed island as its own territory.
Speaking after announcing plans to boost defence spending with a “special” $40bn (£30.6bn) budget, Mr Lai said Xi Jinping’s regime was “speeding up military preparations to take Taiwan by force”.
It comes after Mr Xi used a phone call with Donald Trump to describe Taiwan’s return to mainland China as “an integral part of the post-war international order”.
Taiwan has rejected that assertion, and the prospect of becoming part of China.
China has offered Taiwan a “one country, two systems” model, but this position is not supported by any mainstream political party.
That model is the principle under which Hong Kong has been governed by Beijing, but recent years have seen an increasing erosion of civil liberties there.
Such an arrangement is not supported by any mainstream political party in Taiwan.
Mr Lai said the government will work to counter any attempts at “repression” by China, and achieve a “high level of combat preparedness” by 2027.
The supplementary defence budget will be spent on equipment including missiles and drones, as well as investment in artificial intelligence, with greater cooperation with the US.
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