Published: Just now
Taiwan plans to raise defense spending to an all-time high, in light of China’s major military exercises around the island earlier in August.
The government in Taipei proposes that 415 billion Taiwanese dollars, equivalent to about 145 billion kroner, should go to the military next year – an increase of 13 percent from 2021.
Taiwanese live under the constant threat of invasion, as the communist regime in Beijing considers the democratically self-governing island nation part of China and regularly declares that Taiwan will one day be taken, if necessary by military force.
The Chinese line on Taiwan has hardened under Xi Jinping’s rule. Shortly after Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei in early August despite Chinese threats, China began the largest military exercise in the area since the mid-1990s, involving a large number of warplanes and warships.