Taiwan leader calls on China to not be ‘source of conflict’

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen called on China Wednesday not to be a “source of conflict’’ and pledged to boost the island’s defences against Beijing’s military threats.

In a National Day address, Tsai said the best way to defend Taiwan was to “make it indispensable and irreplaceable to the world,’’ while remaining nonconfrontational in its attitude toward China.

“So once again, I am calling on the authorities in Beijing, as a responsible major power, to play a positive role in the region and the world, instead of being a source of conflict,’’ Tsai told an audience of government officials, members of the public and foreign dignitaries gathered in front of the Presidential Office Building in the centre of the capital, Taipei.

China cut off contact with Tsai’s government shortly after her inauguration in 2016 and has been ratcheting up diplomatic, economic and military pressure on Taiwan in a bid to compel her to agree to Beijing’s insistence that the selfgoverning island democracy is a part of China.

China and Taiwan separated amid civil war in 1949 and China considers the island part of its territory to be taken control of by force if necessary.

Tsai also said Wednesday that Taiwan would upgrade its security by increasing the defence budget annually and further developing domestic defence industries, particularly the manufacturing of submarines and training aircraft.