Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te pledges to defend island’s sovereignty : NPR

[ad_1] <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/5671x3781+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Faa%2F48%2F52983f9442cc87400fed393f5c2c%2Fap26001118605179.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/5671x3781+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Faa%2F48%2F52983f9442cc87400fed393f5c2c%2Fap26001118605179.jpg" class="img" alt="In this photo released by the Taiwan Presidential Office, Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te (center) is accompanied by his Vice President Bi-Khim Hsiao (second right) and officials wave national flags as they attend a New Year flag raising ceremony at the Presidential Office, in Taipei, Taiwan, on Thursday, Jan. 1." fetchpriority="high"/> On this photograph launched by the Taiwan Presidential Workplace, Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te (middle) is accompanied by his Vice President Bi-Khim Hsiao (second proper) and officers wave nationwide flags as they attend a New Yr flag elevating ceremony on the Presidential Workplace, in Taipei, Taiwan, on Thursday, Jan. 1. Taiwan Presidential Workplace/AP cover caption

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Taiwan Presidential Workplace/AP TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te on Thursday vowed to defend the self-ruled island's sovereignty within the face of China's "expansionist ambitions," days after Beijing wrapped up live-fire navy drills close to its shores.

"Within the face of China's rising expansionist ambitions, the worldwide neighborhood is watching to see whether or not the Taiwanese folks have the resolve to defend themselves," Lai mentioned in his New Yr's tackle.

"As president, my stance has at all times been clear: to firmly safeguard nationwide sovereignty, strengthen nationwide protection and the resilience of the entire society, and comprehensively assemble an efficient deterrence and democratic protection mechanism," he added.

Lai's feedback got here days after China wrapped up live-fire drills round Taiwan that includes rocket launches, plane and warships. Beijing had expressed anger at a deliberate U.S. arms gross sales to Taiwan, in addition to at Japan's new chief's feedback that Tokyo might intervene within the occasion of a Chinese language assault on Taiwan.

China sees Taiwan as its personal territory and threatens to annex it by drive if essential. A former Japanese colony, Taiwan has been ruled independently from the mainland since 1949, when the Nationalist Celebration misplaced a civil warfare in opposition to the Chinese language Communist Celebration and retreated to the island.

Lai's speech was met angrily in Beijing, the place a spokesperson for the State Council's Taiwan Affairs Workplace known as the president "a saboteur of peace, a troublemaker and a warmonger," in line with the official Xinhua information company.

"It doesn't matter what Lai and the Democratic Progressive Celebration authorities say or do, they can not change the truth that Taiwan is a part of China," mentioned spokesperson Chen Binhua.

The deliberate arms sale, valued at greater than $11 billion, is the U.S.'s largest to this point to Taiwan. It contains missiles, drones, artillery programs and navy software program.

The US is obligated by its personal legal guidelines to supply Taiwan with the means to defend itself.

China's chief Xi Jinping known as Taiwan's eventual annexation " unstoppable " throughout his personal televised New Yr's tackle on Wednesday.

Taiwan final yr introduced a particular $40 billion finances for arms purchases, together with to construct an air protection system with high-level detection and interception capabilities known as the Taiwan Dome.

The finances might be allotted over eight years, from 2026 to 2033, and comes after Lai already pledged to boost protection spending to five% of the island's GDP, as a part of his technique amid China's threats of invasion.