WASHINGTON: Dozens of lawmakers from the United States on Thursday urged Taiwan’s political parties to support “significant” defense spending increases, warning that the threat from China “has never been greater.”
Taiwan has spent many billions of dollars upgrading its military in the past decade, but faces growing US pressure to do more to protect itself against China, which claims the island is part of its territory and has not ruled out using force to annex it.
Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te has proposed $40 billion in extra defense spending over eight years, but the plan has been blocked by the opposition-controlled parliament 10 times since early December.
A letter dated February 12 and signed by 37 Republican and Democrat members of the Senate and House said the United States and Taiwan “must do more to deter PRC aggression,” referring to the People’s Republic of China.
China’s President “Xi Jinping is focusing every element of the PRC’s national power to control Taiwan,” the lawmakers said.
