On Thursday, Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te vowed to defend the self-governing island's sovereignty against China's "expansionist ambitions," days after Beijing concluded live-fire military exercises off the island's coast, UNN reports, citing AP.
"In the face of China's growing expansionist ambitions, the international community is watching to see if the Taiwanese people have the resolve to defend themselves," Lai said in his New Year's address.
"As president, I have always maintained a clear position: firmly defend national sovereignty, strengthen national defense and the resilience of the entire society, and comprehensively create an effective mechanism of deterrence and democratic defense," he added.
The publication notes that Lai's comments came days after China concluded live-fire exercises around Taiwan, which included missile launches, the use of aviation, and warships. Beijing expressed dissatisfaction with planned US arms sales to Taiwan, as well as statements by Japan's new leader that Tokyo might intervene if China attacked Taiwan.
China views Taiwan as its territory and threatens to annex it by force if necessary. Taiwan, a former Japanese colony, has been governed independently from the mainland since 1949, when the Nationalist Party lost the civil war to the Communist Party of China and retreated to the island.
Lai's speech was met with anger in Beijing, where a spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council called the president a "saboteur of peace, a troublemaker, and a warmonger," as reported by the official Xinhua news agency.
"No matter what Lai and the representatives of the Democratic Progressive Party say or do, they cannot change the fact that Taiwan is part of China," said spokesperson Chen Binhua.
The planned arms sale, valued at more than $11 billion, is the largest US deal with Taiwan to date. It includes missiles, drones, artillery systems, and military software.
The United States is obligated by its own laws to provide Taiwan with the means for self-defense.
In his New Year's address on Wednesday, Chinese leader Xi Jinping called the upcoming annexation of Taiwan "inevitable."
Last year, Taiwan announced a special budget of $40 billion for arms procurement, including the creation of a high-capability detection and interception air defense system dubbed the "Taiwan Dome."
The budget will be allocated over eight years, from 2026 to 2033, and this came after Lai had already pledged to increase defense spending to 5% of the island's GDP as part of his strategy amid the threat of invasion from China.
"Facing China's serious military ambitions, Taiwan has no time to wait," Lai said.