Taiwan leader Lai Ching-te warns that countries in the region could be “next” in the event of a Chinese attack
Written by Alison Jackson and Phil Chetwynd
Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te warned that countries in the region would be China’s next targets if Beijing seized the democratic island, and also insisted that Taiwan needed to significantly strengthen its defences.
Speaking to AFP in his first interview with a global news agency since taking office in May 2024, Lai said he was confident Parliament would approve an additional $40 billion budget to fund important defense purchases, including weapons from the United States.
Chinese President Xi Jinping warned Washington against selling weapons to Taiwan, but Lai said the United States would stand by Taiwan and would not need to use it as a “bargaining chip” with Beijing.
China says Taiwan is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to bring the self-governing island under its control.
If China takes over Taiwan, Beijing will become “more aggressive, undermining peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region and the rules-based international order,” Lai said.
“If China annexes Taiwan, China’s expansionist ambitions will not stop there,” Lai told AFP during an exclusive interview Tuesday at the Presidential Office building in Taipei.
He added: “The next countries under threat will be Japan, the Philippines and other countries in the Indo-Pacific region, with the repercussions eventually reaching the Americas and Europe.”
“Peacebuilding efforts”
Taiwan sees its location in the middle of the so-called first island chain in the Asia-Pacific region, which extends from Japan to the Philippines, as crucial to regional security and international trade.
China competes with Japan and the Philippines for territorial claims, while the Taiwan Strait is a major artery for global shipping.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaishi, whose country hosts several US bases and about 60,000 US troops, suggested in November that Tokyo could intervene militarily if China attacks Taiwan, sparking an angry response from Beijing.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos also warned that the archipelagic nation, where US forces have access to nine military bases, would “inevitably” be drawn into a war over Taiwan.
“In this changing world, countries belong to a global community – and any situation in any country will inevitably affect another country,” Lai said.
Ahead of US President Donald Trump’s scheduled meeting with Xi in Beijing in April, Lai said Taiwan welcomed any talks that help maintain the status quo.
“We believe that President Trump is making a difficult effort to build peace, which entails protecting American interests and deterring Chinese expansionism in the short term,” Lai said.
Lai added that the United States does not need to “portray Taiwan as a bargaining chip in any discussions with China.”
“In the context of trade competition between the United States and China, China seeks to obtain much more from the United States than the United States does from China,” he said.
“Deter aggression”
Washington severed its official diplomatic relations with Taipei in 1979 in favor of Beijing, but the United States remains Taiwan’s most important security supporter and largest arms supplier.
But the United States has long maintained “strategic ambiguity” when it comes to deploying boots on the ground to defend the island.
Chinese military pressure on the island has escalated under Xi, who has linked control of Taiwan to his vision of the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.”
China deploys warships and combat aircraft around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, and has launched six rounds of large-scale exercises since 2022, the last of which was in December.
Xi’s recent purge of his top generals has sparked speculation about what Beijing’s timeline for attacking Taiwan might mean, which some US officials have suggested could be as early as 2027.
While the dismissal of so many Chinese generals was “indeed an unusual situation,” Lai told AFP it did not change Taiwan’s need to prepare.
“We must have the ability to deter Chinese aggression at any time,” Lai said.
“We want to ensure that for China, there will never be a good day to invade Taiwan.”
US relations are “solid”
Trump’s efforts to force Taiwanese chipmakers to increase production capacity in the United States and his insistence that Taiwan spend more on defense have raised concerns about his willingness to protect the island.
Taiwan has invested several billion dollars in developing its military and expanding its defense industry. But the island’s forces would be significantly outnumbered and outgunned in a conflict with China.
Under intense US pressure, Lai pledged to increase Taiwan’s defense spending to more than three percent of GDP this year and five percent by 2030.
“Taiwan is responsible for protecting our country,” Lai told AFP, stressing that US-Taiwan relations are “very solid.” He also expressed his hope to increase cooperation in the field of defense industry with Europe.
To achieve this goal, his government proposed spending an additional $40 billion on defense spending over eight years to finance, among other things, a multi-layered air defense system dubbed “T-Dome.”
But legislation authorizing the spending has been blocked 10 times since early December by opposition parties, which hold the largest number of seats in parliament and have used their majority to thwart Lai’s agenda.
Democratic and Republican US senators criticized Taiwan’s opposition and called on lawmakers to “work in good faith across party lines” to approve the spending measure.
Despite the delay, Lai expressed optimism that the budget would be approved.
“In a democratic society, every political party is ultimately accountable to the people,” Lai said.
“So I am confident that this budget will have their support.”
