Taiwan says it is ‘confident’ in the stable development of its relations with the United States, with Washington reiterating that its policy towards the island will not change, said Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung on Monday, referring to the upcoming visit of US President Donald Trump to China.
Donald Trump will visit Beijing from Wednesday to Friday for a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The issue of Taiwan, an autonomous and democratic territory claimed by China, will inevitably be addressed.
China has never ruled out the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control, while the Taiwanese government rejects Beijing’s claims to sovereignty.
The United States is also required to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself, and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio emphasized the need to maintain stability in the Taiwan Strait last week.
Speaking to reporters at the Parliament in Taipei, Lin clarified that the government is closely following the upcoming meeting between Trump and Xi.
“We have maintained continuous communication with the United States, whether through public statements from the US government or unofficial channels. We are confident in the stable development of relations between Taiwan and the United States,” he said.
“The US administration has repeatedly expressed that its Taiwan policy will not change,” added Lin.
DEFENSE SPENDING IN GRIDLOCK
The United States has urged Taiwan, as well as its major global allies, to increase their military spending.
However, last week, the Taiwanese Parliament, controlled by the opposition, adopted a special defense budget lower than the government’s requests, removing clauses related to funding locally developed systems, such as surface-to-air missiles and drones.
A senior US official expressed Washington’s disappointment on Sunday at the approval by the Parliament of defense spending below what the United States deems necessary.
Lin expressed hope that the Parliament can take ‘corrective’ measures so that the defense budget supports the island’s security policy, with maintaining peace and stability in the strait being a shared goal between Taiwan and nations sharing the same values.
“However, peace depends on strength: it requires demonstrating a self-defense capability to deter aggression,” he said.
At another event in Taipei, Prime Minister Cho Jung-tai stated that the government will ‘definitely act’ to restore international community confidence in Taiwan’s defense policy.
“This fragmentation is a blow to defense and security,” he emphasized.
China has continued its regular military activities around Taiwan as Trump’s visit approaches, including a new ‘joint combat readiness patrol’ last week.
On Saturday, the Chinese Ministry of Defense stated that such operations are ‘completely justified and reasonable.’
“The independence of Taiwan is the root cause of peace instability in the strait, and we will absolutely not tolerate or forgive it,” said ministry spokesperson Jiang Bin.
