The government will continue enhancing Taiwan’s defensive capabilities following Cabinet approval of a record increase in military spending for 2023, according to Foreign Minister Jaushieh Joseph Wu.
China has escalated its military threats against Taiwan following the visit of Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi to the country, Wu said. Taiwan will not bow down to the growing pressure from Beijing, he added.
Wu made the remarks during an exclusive interview with Richard Walker and Tsou Tzung-han of Deutsche Welle for an article published Sept. 1 by the Germany-based outlet.
The recent live-fire exercises launched near Taiwan by China are destabilizing peace, stability and security in the Indo-Pacific, Wu said, calling them provocative and very dangerous. Beijing’s authoritarian expansion will not stop with Taiwan, he added.
Maintaining the status quo has always been the government’s policy, Wu said, adding that the consistent position serves the best interests of all parties concerned.
According to Wu, the status quo is that the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the People’s Republic of China have no jurisdiction over each other. Only the people of Taiwan can have a say in the country’s future, he said.
Founded in 1953, Deutsche Welle is Germany’s international broadcaster. The outlet provides journalistic content in 32 languages to an audience of over 280 million people a week. (DL-E)
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