Taiwan leader vows multilayered air defense against ‘enemy threats’
Taiwan President Lai Ching-te on Friday pledged to develop a multilayered air defense system to counter “enemy threats,” while urging mainland China to renounce the use of force to change the status quo across the Taiwan Strait.
Speaking at a ceremony marking the self-ruled island’s National Day, Lai vowed to speed up construction of the air defense system dubbed “T-Dome” with high-level detection and effective interception to “weave a safety net” and protect citizens’ lives and property.
“We also hope it will renounce the use of force or coercion to change the status quo across the Taiwan Strait so that we can jointly maintain the peace and stability of the Indo-Pacific,” Lai also said, referring to the mainland.
China views Taiwan as a renegade province to be united with the mainland, by force if necessary. Cross-strait tensions have escalated since Lai, whom Beijing denounces as a separatist, took office in May last year.
The island’s leader also pledged to boost defense spending to demonstrate Taiwan’s determination to protect itself against China, which has a much larger military and is expanding its arsenal with new weapons, such as stealth fighter jets and aircraft carriers, saying “peace is won through strength.”
‘Lies’
Oct. 10 is celebrated annually in Taiwan as National Day, marking the 1911 uprising on the mainland that led to the overthrow of China’s last imperial dynasty and the establishment of the Republic of China there the following year.
The Nationalist Party leadership of that republic retreated to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong’s Communists, who set up the People’s Republic of China.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun criticized Lai at a Beijing press conference for “spreading lies” to pursue independence, claiming his actions would only drag Taiwan into “grave danger and conflict.”
Guo also reiterated Beijing’s opposition to any official exchanges between Taiwan and countries that have diplomatic relations with the mainland.
