To defend itself US visits reinforce Taiwan’s determination

 To defend itself, recent visits by guests from the United States have reinforced Taiwan’s determination. On Friday, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said to visit the island in defiance of Beijing she met the latest US lawmaker.

“Us society has visited Taiwan with many public figures from a broad spectrum in recent years. She said on Friday, these warm acts of kindness and firm demonstrations of support have reinforced Taiwan’s determination to defend itself”, in remarks carried live on Tsai’s social media pages.

As its own territory China, which claims Taiwan against the strong objections of the democratically elected government in Taipei, after US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited in early August launched military drills near the island. 

She was followed about a week later by five other lawmakers and late on Thursday, Senator Marsha Blackburn touched down in Taipei. Tsai praised the trips of the lawmakers, meeting at the presidential office. 

The United States, like most countries, with Taiwan has no formal diplomatic relations, but is bound by law to provide it with the means to defend itself. 

A Republican from Tennessee, Blackburn, who sits on the Senate Commerce and Armed Services committees, told Tsai that the United States and Taiwan shared the values of freedom and democracy. 

On a call Blackburn later told reporters that Taiwan was looking for more foreign military sales (FMS) from the United States.

“To preserve their independence and freedom it is important indeed that freedom-loving nations support Taiwan”, she said.

“We are also looking forward to strengthening cooperation on semiconductors and other high-tech sectors to work with the United States and jointly responding to the economic challenges of the post-pandemic era.” 

The major producer of chips is Taiwan, tight supplies of which have hit supply chains worldwide.  

Taiwan would like to be “further integrated” into the Biden administration’s new Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, said by Tsai which the island has been excluded from, and other regional economic cooperation architecture.

To visit US legislators are not the only ones. This week, Tsai also hosted two Japanese parliamentarians, and both British and Canadian members of parliament are expected later this year.

Referring to China, Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu told reporters at a separate event, “Dealing with the big bully across the Taiwan Strait it shows Taiwan is not alone”. 

To bring Taiwan under its control Beijing has never ruled out using force.

The executive branch of Taiwan’s government on Thursday laid out plans for a 12.9 percent increase in the Defence Ministry’s annual budget next year. 

To spend an additional $1.6 billion the government is planning (47.5 billion New Taiwan dollars), for a total of $13.8 billion (415.1 billion NTD) for the year.

The Defence Ministry said that in recent years the increase is due to the “Chinese Communists’ continued expansion of targeted military activities in recent years, the normalization of their harassment of Taiwan’s nearby waters and airspace with warplanes and warships.”

The Defence Ministry also said on Thursday that in the region surrounding the island it tracked four Chinese naval ships and 15 warplanes.

According to Taiwan’s government, The People’s Republic of China has never ruled the island and so has no right to claim it, and that only its 23 million people can decide their future. 

Source:- https://livenewzus.com/to-defend-itself-us-visits-reinforce-taiwans-determination/