TAIPEI: Taiwan defence spending is rising to “deter war” rather than provoke conflict, President Lai Ching-te said on Saturday as China kept up military pressure.
Lai made the remarks in his annual National Day speech outside the Presidential Office in Taipei. Foreign diplomats stood among the thousands in the crowd.
“Our aim by increasing investment in national defence is not to provoke,” Lai said. Instead, he said, the goal “is to deter war.”
Before the speech, Taiwanese fighter jets flew over the capital. In addition, two Chinook helicopters carried giant Taiwan flags across the sky in a show of strength.
Record Taiwan defence spending planned for 2027
For 2027, Lai’s administration plans record Taiwan defence spending of 1.1 trillion Taiwan dollars ($34.5 billion). That sum equals more than three percent of the island’s GDP.
Successive governments in Taipei have raised military budgets to improve the island’s ability to fight off a possible Chinese invasion. At the same time, they also signal to Washington that Taipei treats its own security as a priority.
“We do not seek hegemony, nor do we seek to dominate others,” Lai told the crowd. However, he warned that peace “cannot rely solely on wishes.”
He also said tolerance must not become an excuse for aggressors to push further. According to Lai, China continued to use military and “grey-zone” activity to change the status quo across the Taiwan Strait.
Separately, in January the defence ministry disclosed what it planned to buy under a proposed special budget of 1.25 trillion New Taiwan dollars ($40 billion). That eight-year package, covering 2026 to 2033, sits on top of regular Taiwan defence spending.
It groups purchases into seven areas, from precision artillery and long-range strike to drones, air defence and wartime production. Roughly 300 billion New Taiwan dollars of it would go to systems made at home.
Opposition parties, the Kuomintang and the Taiwan People’s Party, had blocked that bill for months. They cited concerns over transparency, rising costs and the balance between local production and foreign purchases.
Lai backs talks between Washington and Beijing
About 23 million people live in Taiwan under a constant threat of attack from China. Beijing claims the island as its own territory and has threatened to take it by force.
Still, Lai said Taipei was glad to see Washington and Beijing talking. He insisted, though, that any dialogue “must” respect the right of Taiwan’s people “to exist.”
Both US and Taiwanese officials have often insisted that Washington’s Taiwan policy stayed the same under President Donald Trump. Even so, some of his remarks have at times unsettled the island.
In May, after meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, Trump suggested US arms sales to Taiwan could serve as a bargaining chip. Meanwhile, a $14 billion arms package for Taipei, which includes US Patriot air defence systems, still needs his approval.
Washington switched formal recognition from Taipei to Beijing almost five decades ago. However, it remains the island’s most important security backer.
Parliamentary speaker Han Kuo-yu, a senior figure in the main opposition party, said US support was “extremely important” for Taiwan’s security. He also pointed to historical and cultural ties with China.
Saturday’s holiday marked 115 years since the Qing dynasty fell and the Republic of China came into being. The present dispute goes back to the civil war, when Chiang Kai-shek’s nationalists retreated to Taiwan in 1949 after defeat by Mao Zedong’s communists.
