President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday visited army engineers and reviewed their training, saying that defending democracy is the armed forces’ “great” mission, ahead of a trip next week to the US and Central America.
Visiting an army base in Chiayi County, Tsai reviewed their training, watching them erect anti-tank barriers and practice martial arts.
“Protecting Taiwan and defending democracy has always been our military’s great mission,” she told the soldiers, accompanied by Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) and National Security Council Secretary-General Wellington Koo (顧立雄).
Photo: Carlos Garcia Rawlins, Reuters
“I believe that only by continuously training and strengthening the military’s war preparedness can we be even more able to protect our home and defend our country,” Tsai added.
She is making a high-profile trip to the US and Central America starting on Wednesday.
China has condemned the US for allowing her to go, although her visit there is technically only a transit.
At the end of the trip, Tsai is expected to meet US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy in Los Angeles.
China staged war games near Taiwan in August last year after then-US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei.
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