Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said Saturday that Taiwan cherishes peace but “will not give up our freedom,” calling for respect for the right of Taiwan’s people to exist. He said Taiwan welcomes exchanges but won’t accept subordination. He described higher defense spending as a way to deter war, not provoke it.
Self-Defense and Sovereignty
“We are strengthening our self-defence not to abandon dialogue, but to ensure that dialogue can take place on the basis of parity and dignity,” Lai said in his National Day speech. Peace can’t rely only on “wishes,” he said, framing Taiwan’s resolve as a matter of survival against what he called “authoritarian expansion.” He also asked whether the international community believes force can override rules or strip people of their right to decide their future.
Taiwan is increasing defense spending and modernising its armed forces as it faces China’s much larger military. The island is adding advanced weapons, including stealth fighter jets, aircraft carriers and a large array of missiles. Lai said higher defense spending isn’t a provocation.
China views Taiwan as its territory, a breakaway province or territory to be retaken by force if necessary, according to the reports. China has never renounced force to bring Taiwan under its control, calls Lai a “separatist” and has rebuffed his offers of talks. The competing positions leave Taiwan’s political future at the heart of the security dispute.
Beijing, Washington and the Region
Lai welcomed the United States and China managing their competition through dialogue and lowering the risk of conflict and war. He urged Indo-Pacific democracies to join forces, saying they “must join forces to ensure the status quo of peace and stability in the region is not changed.” The speech named no international organization or treaty as a driver of policy, and identified no institutional beneficiary from Taiwan’s defense spending.
In September, Chinese President Xi Jinping told his U.S. counterpart he hoped the United States would adhere to “the correct position of opposing ‘Taiwan independence’” during his visit to Washington. China has pressed Washington to halt arms sales to Taiwan, most prominently at a May summit in Beijing between Trump and Xi. After that meeting, a record $14 billion arms package to the island stalled.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Lai’s speech. In 2024, shortly after Lai’s first National Day speech as president, China held war games around the island; it didn’t do so last year. China last held war games near Taiwan in late December, after news of an $11-billion U.S. arms deal for Taipei, described as the largest ever.
The Island’s Political History
China and Taiwan have governed themselves separately since 1949, when a civil war brought the Communist Party to power in Beijing and defeated Nationalist Party forces fled to Taiwan. Taiwan has run its own government since then. The island’s National Day marks the anniversary of a 1911 uprising that led to the overthrow of China’s last imperial dynasty and the establishment of the Republic of China. The Republican government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing the civil war with Mao Zedong’s communists; the Republic of China remains the island’s formal name.
Foreign guests at the celebration included Eswatini King Mswati III and Lieutenant Governor Micah Beckwith of the U.S. Indiana state, who offered congratulations in Taiwan, Lai’s office said. Eswatini is Taiwan’s only diplomatic ally in Africa. A Japanese parliamentary delegation also visited the island and took part in National Day celebration activities. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi angered Beijing last November by saying hypothetical Chinese military action against Taiwan would constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan and justify Japanese troop engagement.