Citing 'peace through strength,' Lai pushes US$40 billion defense budget

Taipei, Nov. 26 (CNA) President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) underscored the importance of pursuing peace through strength in proposing a US$40 billion special defense budget in an op-ed published Tuesday in the Washington Post.

In the op-ed, Lai said Taiwan is committed to maintaining peace in the Indo-Pacific region despite frequent Chinese military incursions into its vicinity and drills breaching the first island chain that extends from Japan to Borneo.

To deliver on this commitment, Taiwan's defense spending "is expected to rise 3.3 percent of GDP by next year" and will rise to 5 percent by 2030, "representing the largest sustained military investment in Taiwan's modern history," Lai wrote.

"As part of this effort, my government will introduce a historic US$40 billion supplementary defense budget" to "not only fund significant new arms acquisitions from the U.S. but also vastly enhance Taiwan's asymmetrical capabilities," Lai wrote.

The goal, Lai said, was to bolster deterrence by inserting greater costs and uncertainties into Beijing's decision-making on the use of force.

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The commitment to higher defense spending was clearly targeted at the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, which has insisted on governments around the world that have American defense commitments, including Taiwan, to spend more on their own defense.

In the op-ed, Lai also praised Trump's leadership, saying that "the international community is safer today because of the Trump administration's pursuit of peace through strength."

At the same time, he said, China's rapid military buildup and "provocations in the Taiwan Strait, East and South China Seas and across the Indo-Pacific, have highlighted the fragility of peace in the region."