In a live New Year’s address, Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said the island is determined to defend its sovereignty and bolster its defence in the face of China’s growing assertiveness.
He urged opposition parties to support his proposal to increase Taiwan’s defence spending by C$55 billion (US$40 billion), a plan currently stalled amid a political deadlock in the opposition-controlled parliament.
President Lai’s speech came just two days after a large Chinese exercises named ‘Justice Mission 2025′. The aggressive military manouvers increased tension around Taiwan as 2025 drew to a close. China fired dozens of rockets towards Taiwan and deployed a large number of warships and aircraft near the island.
Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration was notified that seven temporary “dangerous zones” had been set up around the Taiwan Strait. The schedules of Taiwan’s four international airports on Tuesday afternoon showed over 150 international and domestic flights had revised times, delays or cancellations.
Xinhua, China’s official news agency, posted a commentary late Monday saying the drills sent an unequivocal message: That Beijing is always ready to prevent anything that tries to split Taiwan from China. Each escalation, it said, would be met with stronger countermeasures.
The show of force that drew concern from Western allies including the European Commission and the United Kingdom.
China continues to claim the democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has not ruled out the use of force to bring it under Chinese control.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has renewed calls for unification with Taiwan in his New Year address. In previous years President Xi has said he wants a “peaceful reunification’ with Taiwan. That language has changed to an ‘unstoppable reunification’. This is consistent with and comes after two days of military exercises where the Chinese military rehearsed taking Taiwan by force.
Further Reading
France 24: Taiwan vows to defend its sovereignty after Chinese military drills
Le Monde: China military drills near Taiwan ‘unnecessarily’ raise tensions, says US State Department
Al Jazeera: China’s Xi says ‘reunification’ with Taiwan ‘unstoppable’
WSJ: A Chinese attack on Taiwan wouldbBecome Japan’s problem
Video
ABC News (Australia): Jennifer Parker, a national security expert at the Australian National University, says President Xi no longer refers to ‘peaceful reunification’ of Taiwan
Al Jazeera: Taiwan’s youth reject China’s push for reunification amid renewed threats