Taiwan aims to “deter war” by increasing its defence spending, the democratic island’s leader said on Saturday (October 10, 2026), as China uses military pressure to assert its territorial claims.
“Our aim by increasing investment in national defence is not to provoke, rather, it is to deter war,” President Lai Ching-te said in a speech to celebrate Taiwan’s National Day.
Mr. Mr. Trump’s suggestion in May, following a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, that U.S. arms sales to Taiwan could be a bargaining chip with China set off alarm bells across the world.
Lai’s government has earmarked a record NT$1.1 trillion ($34.5 billion) in defence spending for 2027, which accounts for more than 3% of GDP.
“We do not seek hegemony, nor do we seek to dominate others,” Mr. Lai said in his annual address in front of the Presidential Office in Taipei, where thousands of people, including foreign diplomats, were gathered. “However, peace cannot rely solely on wishes, and tolerance cannot become a pretext for aggressors to encroach ever further,” Mr. Lai said, noting that China continued to “apply pressure through military and grey-zone activities in an attempt to alter the status quo across the Taiwan Strait”. Government officials in Washington and Taipei have said repeatedly that U.S. policy on Taiwan has not changed under President Donald Trump, whose remarks have jangled nerves at times. “You can really feel the warmth in Taiwanese society,” said Feng Jing-heng, 70, who was in the crowd watching the military parade and dance performances.
