The purpose of national defense is to safeguard national security and uphold world peace, and the military fights for the safety of Taiwanese, President William Lai (賴清德) said last night.
Lai delivered his fourth speech in a series of 10 last night at the Lions Clubs International District 300 A1 in Taipei.
Lai began the speech about national defense by quoting the Constitution, saying that national defense is meant to safeguard national security, not to invade another country.
Photo: screen grab from a Presidential Office livestream
The army, air force and navy must be above any personal, regional and partisan interests, pledging loyalty to the nation and to protect the people, Lai said.
“The military fights for the survival and development of the Republic of China, and for the safety of the people of Taiwan [proper], Penghu, Matsu and Kinmen,” he said.
Citing the 1949 Battle of Guningtou and the 1958 Taiwan Strait Crisis as examples, Lai said that the military fought bravely to defend the nation and demonstrated military-civilian cooperation.
Whenever Taiwanese society faces disasters or pandemics, the military plays a crucial role in recovery and restoration, he said.
China’s military budget, which has been rising continuously since 2000 and surpassed NT$8 trillion (US$274.1 billion) this year, is more than seven times what it was 20 years ago, he said.
Its budget did not stop rising even when the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) was in power, he added.
China’s threat is not directed at Taiwan alone, but has already pushed its aggression beyond the first and second island chains to the third island chain, aiming to reshape the international order and dominate the Western Pacific, he said.
“China would not stop even if it annexed Taiwan. It would only pursue regional expansion with even more force,” he said.
During former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration, Taiwan’s national defense budget decreased, shrinking to about 2 percent of GDP, Lai said.
During former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration, the budget increased by 80.74 percent from NT$359.6 billion in 2016 to NT$606.8 billion last year, reaching about 2.5 percent of GDP, he said.
Lai said that he promised to increase national defense spending to at least 3 percent of GDP this year to demonstrate Taiwan’s determination to protect itself.
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