Foreign Minister: Taiwan Must Rely on Itself in Face of Chinese Threat
Foreign minister Lin Chia-lung says Taiwan must rely on itself for defense in the face of Beijing's growing threat to invade. Lin responded to U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's recent negative comments about Taiwan, saying that Taiwan is continuing to increase its defense budget.
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00:00Just as former US President Donald Trump speaks at the Republican National Rally here in Taipei,
00:06Foreign Minister Ling Jialong says that Taiwan needs to rely on itself.
00:10Responding to Trump's recent comments that Taiwan needs to pay for US defense support,
00:15Ling says that Taiwan is not opportunistic and has been continuing to increase its defense
00:21budget.
00:22Taipei already buys billions of dollars worth of arms from Washington and has raised its
00:27defense spending to its highest rate yet at 2.5% of GDP.
00:32Despite these hits from the Republican presidential candidate, the foreign minister maintains
00:36confidence that Taiwan and US relations are strong and have bipartisan support.
00:42He says regardless of whether it's President Biden or former President Trump, there is
00:46consensus that China is a threat.
00:57Two months into his post, Foreign Minister Ling says he's been spending time with each
01:13of Taiwan's 12 diplomatic allies to understand the future vision for these relationships.
01:19Under political and economic coercion from Beijing, Taiwan has lost 10 allies since 2016
01:26when the ruling Democratic Progressive Party's Tsai Ing-wen took office.
01:30Ling says relations with the 12 remaining allies are stable at this point, and given
01:35the country's competitive advantage in several critical sectors like semiconductors, AI,
01:40and defense tech, Taiwan has a crucial role to play in global supply chains.
01:45And Ling says there are active cooperations ongoing with allies and also non-official
01:51partners like Japan, India, the Philippines, among others.
01:55So a lot of projects in the works here to share Taiwan's tech and talents to ensure
02:00its place on the world stage regardless of what happens in Washington and Beijing.
02:06Joseph Wu and Joyce Sun in Taipei for Taiwan Plus.