Lai's US$40 billion defense proposal 'a step towards peace': U.S. envoy

Taipei, Nov. 26 (CNA) The United States' top envoy to Taiwan on Wednesday said President Lai Ching-te's (賴清德) proposed US$40 billion special defense budget marked "a major step towards maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait by strengthening deterrence."

Lai first outlined the special budget proposal in a Washington Post op-ed, hours before reiterating the plan at a news conference in Taipei earlier Wednesday.

In a post on the American Institute in Taiwan's (AIT) Facebook page, AIT Director Raymond Greene said that Taiwan was joining "partners from across Europe to Japan and Korea that are making critical defense investments necessary to deter unprecedented challenges to global peace and prosperity."

The director reiterated Washington's stance in supporting Taipei's "rapid acquisition of critical asymmetric capabilities needed to strengthen deterrence," which is consistent with the Taiwan Relations Act and "decades of commitment across multiple U.S. Administrations."

In an appeal to the Legislative Yuan's opposition parties, Greene said that "just as support for Taiwan is a longstanding U.S. bipartisan priority, I expect Taiwan's political parties will find similar common ground."

"Whether your priority is preserving Taiwan's democracy and market economy, fostering conditions for cross-Strait dialogue, or maintaining support from the international community, increasing Taiwan's defense capabilities is a necessary precondition," Greene said.

"The entire world has a stake in ensuring that differences across the Taiwan Strait are resolved peacefully and free from coercion," he added.

Lai's commitment comes after repeated demands from U.S. President Donald Trump's administration for Washington's partners around the world, including Taiwan, to increase defense spending.