Taiwan’s President is pledging to improve defenses even more amid a growing China threat.
The island’s planned military spending for next year hit a fresh record high reaching 2.5 percent of the island’s GDP.
“Taiwan must continue to strengthen its self-defence capabilities, demonstrate its determination for self-defense, ensure its national security and interests, and seek more international support,” said President Tsai Ing-wen said on Aug. 21,
Taiwan’s 2024 military spending will increase 3.5 percent year-on-year—a record high.
The overall defence budget proposed by Ms. Tsai, which will need parliamentary approval, is $19 billion.
Amounting to 2.5 percent of the island’s GDP.
That would be the island’s seventh consecutive year of growth in military spending since 2017.
China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory.
It has ramped up military and political pressure over the past years to assert those claims, which Taipei strongly rejects. The Chinese Communist Party has never ruled Taiwan.