TAIPEI, March 20 (Reuters) – China poses a pressing threat given its military build-up continues unabated and effective deterrence is needed to make sure any attack would be very risky for Beijing, Taiwan Defence Minister Wellington Koo said on Friday.
China does not currently plan to invade Taiwan in 2027 and seeks to control the island without the use of force, the U.S. intelligence community said on Wednesday, striking a measured tone on one of the world’s biggest potential flashpoints.
Beijing has stepped up pressure on Taiwan, which it views as its own territory, with frequent military drills. Taiwan’s democratically elected government rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims.
Speaking about the U.S. report, Koo said China has neither given up the option of using force against Taiwan nor slowed military spending.
“So its military expansion, and the threat it poses to us, remain very serious,” he told reporters at parliament.
“We need to make it feel that any plan to attack Taiwan would carry a high degree of risk: in other words, to make its assessment of a successful invasion very low.”
If China continues expanding its military while Taiwan’s defence capabilities do not improve, the likelihood of an attack would rise, Koo said.
“On the other hand, if our defence capabilities continue to improve and our deterrence grows stronger, then its calculation regarding an attack on Taiwan will decrease. That would have the effect of pushing back such a date again and again.”
China’s foreign ministry on Thursday said that Taiwan is an internal issue and that the U.S. needs to “stop hyping up the ‘China threat’ theory”.
Taiwan President Lai Ching-te has proposed $40 billion in extra defence spending, but the plans have been slow to work their way through parliament where the opposition, which has the most seats, has complained they are too vague and that its lawmakers cannot be expected to sign “blank cheques”.
Lai on Thursday visited Taiwan’s new domestically developed submarine, which is still undergoing sea trials, as well as one of its two existing combat-capable submarines, bought from the Netherlands in the 1980s.
Koo said one of those two Dutch-built submarines had already completed an upgrade, with the upgrade for the other to be done by the end of the year.
“These two submarines will significantly enhance our combat capabilities,” he said.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Kevin Buckland)
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