Dozens of lawmakers from the United States called on Taiwan’s political parties on Thursday to support a proposal to increase defense spending on the island. At the same time, they pointed out that the threat from China has never been greater. TASR writes about it according to an AFP report.
- US lawmakers have called on Taiwan to increase defense spending.
- They draw attention to the growing military threat from China.
Taiwan has spent billions of dollars over the past decade to modernize its military, but is under strong US pressure to do more to protect against a growing threat from China, which claims the island as part of its territory and has not ruled out using force to annex it.
A plan to increase defenses
Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te proposed additional defense spending of 33.56 billion euros over eight years, but the opposition-majority parliament has blocked the plan 10 times since early December.
The February 12 letter, signed by 37 Republican and Democratic members of the Senate and House of Representatives, said the United States and Taiwan “must do more to deter aggression by the People’s Republic of China.” Chinese President Xi Jinping is concentrating all elements of the PRC’s power to control Taiwan, the lawmakers added.
Threat of use of force
“He hopes to achieve this through illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive operations that undermine Taiwan’s determination to resist,” they said, adding that the Chinese leader remains willing to use military force to achieve his goal.
The lawmakers praised Taiwan’s “important progress” in strengthening its defenses, but warned in the letter that without a significant increase in defense spending to the level proposed in the Taiwanese president’s special budget, that progress may not be enough.
The United States has long been Taiwan’s most important supporter and largest arms supplier. In the event of a conflict with China, Taiwan would be heavily dependent on US support.
