TAIPEI (Reuters) -Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said on Friday he hoped defence spending would reach 5% of gross domestic product before 2030, upping a target of bolstering the island’s military budget that Washington has pushed for.
The previous day, the government said next year’s defence budget would reach 3.32% of GDP, including for the first time spending on the coast guard, among other areas, to align with what Premier Cho Jung-tai said was the “NATO model”.
The move comes as China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, has ramped up military and political pressure over the past five years to assert its claims, which Taipei strongly rejects.
But Taiwan also faces calls from Washington to spend more on its own defence, mirroring pressure from the United States on Europe.
Visiting a navy base on Taiwan’s northeast coast, Lai said China’s threats had increased in recent years, and that he hoped defence spending by NATO standards could reach 5% of GDP before 2030.
“This not only demonstrates our country’s determination to safeguard national security and protect democracy, freedom, and human rights,” he said, in video images provided by his office.
“It also shows our willingness to stand shoulder to shoulder with the international community to jointly exert deterrent power and maintain peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.”
Lai added that the government would push for cooperation with “international allies” on weapons research and development as well as for production, though he did not give details.
The United States is Taiwan’s most important international arms supplier, despite a lack of formal diplomatic ties, but Taiwan’s own domestic weapons industry has built everything from fighter jets to cruise missiles.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Clarence Fernandez)
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