TAIPEI (Reuters) – Taiwan on Thursday unveiled an increase of T $ 42.1 billion ($ 1.4 billion) in planned spending on defense next year, as China announced details of its latest battlefield near the democratic island.
FILE PHOTO: A CM-11 Brave Tiger tank burns during the live fire Han Kuang military exercise, which simulates China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) invasion of the island, in Pingtung, Taiwan May 30, 2019. REUTERS / Tyrone Siu
China has halted its military activity near Taiwan, which considers it an invading province.
On Monday, Taiwan said Chinese fighters had recently crossed the sensitive median line of the Straits of Taiwan, the same day that US health chief Alex Azar met with President Tsai Ing-wen in Taipei. China had announced Azar’s trip.
Tsai’s cabinet expects T $ 453.4 billion in military spending for the year beginning in January, compared to T $ 411.3 billion budgeted for this year, up 10.2% according to Reuters calculations.
“The gradual increase in the defense budget will facilitate the implementation of various tasks of military construction and war provision … and ensure national security and regional peace and stability,” the Taiwan Ministry of Defense said.
About three hours after the announcement of the budget, the People’s Liberation Army of the People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater said that its troops had been conducting battleboards in the Straits of Taiwan and to the north and south of the island in recent days, implying that they were focused on the journey of Azar.
“Recently, a certain large country has continued to make negative gestures about problems with Taiwan, sending serious wrong signals to ‘Taiwan independence’ troops, and seriously threatening the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait,” it said.
“The organization of patrols and exercises of the theater have taken necessary actions in response to the current security situation across the Strait of Taiwan and to protect national sovereignty,” the statement added.
Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense said the situation was normal and people should not worry.
Tsai has made modernizing Taiwan’s military force and increasing defense spending a priority.
The budget must be approved by legislators, although Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party has a large majority in the legislature, making it unlikely to be blocked.
China has never denied the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control, and has refused to allow the United States to sell arms to the island. Washington is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself.
Taiwan is in talks with the United States to obtain sea mines to curb amphibious landings, such as cruise missiles for coastal defenses, Taiwan’s de facto ambassador to the United States said Wednesday.
Last year, the US State Department approved US $ 10 billion in arms sales to Taiwan.
Taiwan’s military is well-armed, but dwarfed by China’s.
“Taiwanese authorities spend their taxpayers’ money on defense, but no matter how much they spend on defense, Taiwan is still a small place. “Facing the mainland is like an ant trying to shake a tree,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters in Beijing.
Report by Yimou Lee and Ben Blanchard; Additional Report by Cate Cadell and Yew Lun Tian in Beijing; Edited by Himani Sarkar, Gerry Doyle and Alex Richardson
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