TAIWAN TO BOOST NATIONAL SECURITY
President vows not to submit to Chinese suppression
PRESIDENT Tsai Ing-wen vowed yesterday to boost national security, saying her government would not submit to Chinese suppression as Beijing ramps up pressure to assert its sovereignty over the self-ruled island.
Tsai’s remarks came weeks ahead of islandwide local elections next month that are seen as a bellwether for her ruling party’s performance in presidential elections due in 2020.
“At this time, China’s intimidation and diplomatic pressure not only hurts relations between both sides, but seriously challenges the peaceful stability in the Taiwan Strait,” she said in a National Day speech here.
Taiwan will increase its defence budget every year to ensure it can defend its sovereignty, Tsai said, by upgrading military capabilities and self-sufficiency, including resuming domestic development of advanced training aircraft and submarines.
China has increased military and diplomatic pressure on Taipei, leading to a difficult period for the president and her independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
Taiwan must work with other countries to build a coalition to defend democracy, Tsai said, thanking the European Parliament and the United States for support.
Tsai called for a multinational effort to fight some types of infiltration, such as the circulation of fake news.
“I would like to pledge to everyone that we will not rashly increase antagonism, but we won’t submit or yield,” she said.