Beijing, February 21 Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen said today that the island “continues to strengthen its military ties with the United States” to “prevent the spread of authoritarianism”.
Tsai, who did not give further details on the strengthening military ties, made the remarks during a meeting with a delegation of US congressmen visiting the island that included Democratic lawmakers Ro Khanna (California) , Jake Auchincloss (Massachusetts) and Jonathan Jackson (Illinois), as well as Republican Tony Gonzales (Texas).
Taiwan will “cooperate with the United States and other democratic partners to address global challenges such as authoritarianism and climate change,” Tsai said, according to video collected by the island news agency CNA on Tuesday.
The president stressed that the visitors “attach great importance to the development of relations between Taiwan and the United States” and recalled that the island and Washington have “deepened exchanges in various fields such as technology and security”.
The president expressed her hope that Taiwan and the United States “together build a more resilient technological industrial chain.”
For his part, Congressman Ro Khana, who leads the delegation, explained that the purpose of the trip is to “strengthen and deepen the economic and defense partnership” between Washington and Taipei and assured that US President Joe Biden ” continues to seek peace in the region”.
Taipei recently announced that it would extend compulsory military service for men, which is currently four months, to one year from 2024, “in the face of advancing Chinese authoritarianism”.
Tensions between Taipei and Beijing escalated last summer due to the visit of then-US Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, which was strongly protested by Chinese authorities, who called it a “deplorable betrayal”.
Taiwan has been considered a sovereign territory with its own government and political system as the Republic of China since the end of the civil war between Nationalists and Communists in 1949, but Beijing maintains that it is a province rebellious and insists that she return to what is called the common homeland.
The island is one of the biggest sources of conflict between China and the United States, mainly because Washington is Taiwan’s main arms supplier and would be its biggest military ally in the event of a possible war with Beijing.