Taiwan to Increase Military Defense Spending: China Needs Statecraft (Biden Admin)
Kanako Mita and Sawako Utsumi
Modern Tokyo Times
Taiwan will increase military defense spending next year to 7.7%. This increase will outpace the economic growth that is projected next year.
The government of Taiwan will increase its missile defense system and buy more fighter jets to counter the threat from China.
Reuters reports, “Taiwan’s Cabinet said following a regular weekly meeting that 2025 defense spending would rise 7.7% year-on-year to $20.25 billion, accounting for 2.45% of gross domestic product and exceeding the government’s expectation for economic growth of 3.26% for the year.”
The administration of President Joe Biden of America increased its rhetoric against China concerning the Taiwan issue.
Last year, ABC reported, “The U.S. has approved more arms sales to Taiwan, including $619 million worth of munitions for F-16 fighter jets, in a decision likely to be yet another point of friction between the U.S. and China, which claims the island as its own territory.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China said, “The US keeps saying that territorial sovereignty must be respected, but on the Taiwan question, the US has been walking on the edge and pushing the envelope. The US has broken its own political commitments and has been selling sophisticated weapons to China’s Taiwan region. The US says there’s desire for peace to prevail, yet it has waged wars and stoked confrontation around the world. The US says it’s important to respect and uphold the international order, yet it has slapped massive unilateral illegal sanctions and put its domestic laws above international law. The US says competition must be fair, yet it has been cracking down on foreign companies by using all kinds of state apparatus and defying international trade rules.”
Lee Jay Walker (Modern Tokyo Times analyst) says, “Since Biden came to power, it is clear that America, NATO, and Japan are collectively seeking to alter the regional dynamics of Northeast Asia and the geopolitical space of both China and the Russian Federation through their constant hostile postures and deeds.”
The Guardian reported in 2022, “Joe Biden has said the US would intervene militarily to defend Taiwan if it came under attack from China, in an unusually forceful presidential statement in support of self-governing that drew a defiant response from Beijing.”
Biden said, “America is committed to a one-China policy – but that does not mean China has the jurisdiction to use force to take Taiwan.”
China and Taiwan have coexisted and traded enormously with each other for many decades. Henceforth, rather than both militaries being fixated on the convulsions of history, it is high time that China tolerated greater international freedoms for Taiwan. Similarly, Taiwan needs to understand China’s concern about America’s containment policy of China, which is supported by other nations in the Quad Group and AUKUS.
China should seek accommodation with Taiwan if political elites want AUKUS, the Quad Group, and the anti-China containment policies to be reduced to a more diplomatic level. Accordingly, threatening Taiwan will cement the enemies of China and serve the whims of America and Japan – under the current leaders of both nations.
Equally, anti-China forces in Taiwan also need to refrain from antagonizing China. Instead, political elites in Taiwan should reach out to China – and China should respond in kind.
If not, the Ukraine and Russian Federation scenario is too awful to think about in Northeast Asia.
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