Taiwan’s Lai says he will tell Trump he expects to continue arms purchases

Taipei, Taiwan—Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said on Wednesday that if given a chance, he would tell US President Donald Trump about his hope to continue purchasing American arms, which Lai described as necessary for peace and for assuring that the future of the island would not be decided by outside forces.

Lai is completing two years of his tenure, which is the halfway point of his term. China’s pressure Which sees Taiwan as a breakaway province that will be taken back by force if necessary. Trump’s recent statement on Taiwan also raised concerns. Regarding America’s traditional support for the island, even without formal diplomatic relations.

Lai said that if he could talk to Trump, he would stress that peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait are vital to global security, accusing China of being a “destroyer” of the Strait’s peace.

Lai said he would also tell Trump that Taiwan’s growing defence budget is a response to threats and that purchases of American weapons will be an essential means of protecting the stability of the strait. Lai said he believed that “only strength can bring peace”.

Lai said, “No country is entitled to occupy Taiwan.”

He will tell Trump about it at the news briefing. “Democracy and freedom should also not be considered provocations.”

He said he looked forward to greater cooperation between Taiwan and the United States and other democratic countries to promote peace in the Lae Strait.

Chinese President Xi Jinping issued a stern warning to the US last week, telling Trump during the Beijing summit that “Taiwan Question” This is the most important issue in relations between China and the US and without proper management there will be “skirmishes and even conflicts” between the two countries.

In December, Trump approved a record-breaking $11 billion arms package for Taiwan. The US president concluded his remarks in an interview broadcast on Fox News on Friday. trip to chinaTrump said his approval of a new $14 billion arms package for Taiwan was dependent on China, calling the deal “a very good negotiating chip”.

Trump later told reporters he needed to talk to the person who runs Taiwan, without naming Lai, whom Beijing considers a separatist.

In his speech on Wednesday, Lai said that democracy is not a gift from heaven.

“Taiwan’s future cannot be decided by external forces, nor can it be held hostage by fear, division or short-term interests,” he said, without specifying who those external forces were.

He said Taiwan is willing to engage in healthy and orderly exchanges with China under the principles of equality and dignity but strongly rejects the united front strategy that “packages unification as peace”.

Beyond geopolitics, Taiwan is a major manufacturer of artificial-intelligence servers, computer chips and precision instruments. The AI boom has led Taiwan’s leading technology companies to achieve record profits and revenues. But observers worry that the island’s heavy reliance on computer chip makers and other technology companies risks becoming a bubble if the AI ​​craze turns out to be a bubble.

Lai said he would launch a $3.1 billion plan to accelerate the upgrading and transformation of small and medium-sized businesses and traditional industries and to accelerate the transformation of technology industries into traditional sectors.

Chen Binhua, spokesman for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said in Beijing that Lai’s comments were full of lies, deception, hostility and confrontation, according to China’s official Xinhua news agency.

The report said Chen accused Lai of stubbornly insisting on Taiwan independence, calling him a “destroyer of cross-Strait peace” and saying that Lai had vowed to promote cross-Strait talks in an effort to deceive the Taiwanese and fool international public opinion, but he was pretending to be sincere.

According to Xinhua, Chen said no matter who was elected in Taiwan and how the election was conducted, “it cannot break the immutable rule that Taiwan’s future can only be jointly decided by all Chinese people, including Taiwanese compatriots.”

China and Taiwan have been ruled separately since the Communist Party came to power in Beijing following a civil war in 1949. Defeated Nationalist Party forces fled to Taiwan, which later transitioned from martial law to multi-party democracy.

The US and Taiwan had formal diplomatic relations until 1979, when the administration of President Jimmy Carter recognised and established relations with Beijing. Nevertheless, the law requires the US to ensure that Taiwan can defend itself.