Taiwan will not bow to China: president
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te said Wednesday that China was attempting to force the self-ruled island into submission but that it would not bow to pressure.
China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has said it will never renounce the use of force to bring it under Beijing’s control. In recent years, Beijing has upped military and political pressure on the Taipei government, with the latest show of force coming three days after Lai’s inauguration, when China conducted war games around the island. Speaking at a Wednesday press conference marking his first month in office, Lai said: “The annexation of Taiwan is a national policy of the People’s Republic of China.”
“In addition to military force, they have increasingly employed nontraditional methods of coercion to try to force Taiwan into submission,” he said. “However, Taiwan will not bow to the pressure. The people of Taiwan will resolutely defend national sovereignty and uphold the democratic and free constitutional way of life.”
As China has increased pressures around the island, Taiwan has sought to strengthen economic ties with friendly countries while ramping up military purchases from the United States, a key partner. The US switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, but it has remained Taiwan’s biggest arms supplier, sparking repeated condemnations from China.
On Tuesday, the Pentagon in Washington announced the approval of two arms sales to Taiwan: $300 million in uncrewed aerial vehicles and $60.2 million for equipment including more than 700 Switchblades — a miniature, precision-guided missile.
Taiwan’s Defense Ministry on Wednesday thanked Washington for the approval of the deals, which are expected to take effect in a month. “In the face of the Chinese Communist Party’s frequent military operations around Taiwan, the US side in this case agreed to sell arms items that ... can respond quickly to enemy threats,” the ministry said in a statement.
Earlier this month, Washington also approved the sale of equipment and parts for F-16 fighter jets worth approximately $300 million.
The new president is regarded as a “dangerous separatist” by China and has hewed closely to the rhetoric of his predecessor Tsai Ing-wen, saying that there is no need for Taiwan to formally declare independence as it is “already independent.”
Lai and Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party has long asserted Taiwanese sovereignty, and China has not conducted top-level communications with Taipei since 2016. During his inaugural speech in May, Lai signaled an openness to resuming dialogue with Beijing, calling for both sides to develop exchanges.
China, however, has appeared to rebuff those overtures. It continues to maintain a near-daily presence of naval vessels and warplanes around the island, “gray zone” tactics that fall short of an outright act of war but serve to exhaust Taiwan’s military. In recent months, Chinese Coast Guard ships have also been spotted around Taiwan’s outlying islands, at times briefly entering its restricted waters.