Taiwan must heed calls to share responsibility for ‘collective defence’: president

Taiwan must heed international calls to share the responsibility for “collective defence”, President Lai Ching-te saidon Friday, appealing for parliamentary support for new spending on drones.

While Taiwan’s government has prioritised drones and other asymmetric systems, in May the opposition-dominated parliament passed only two-thirds of the T$1.25 trillion ($38.69 billion) in extra defence spending Lai had asked for, earmarking funds only for US arms.

The government has now proposed a new, T$210 billion package for surveillance, coastal attack and small surface drones to the end of 2031. Taiwan’s opposition parties are pushing their own drone spending plans.

Speaking to reporters during a visit to government arms contractor the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology in the central city of Taichung, Lai said Chinese pressure on Taiwan has become increasingly intense.

“To demonstrate our determination to safeguard the nation, maintain stability across the Taiwan Strait, and uphold peace in the Indo-Pacific, we must respond to the international call to share the responsibility of collective defence,” he said.

Drone spending plans

China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control. Lai and his government reject Beijing’s sovereignty claims.