Taiwan responds to Trump’s comments, says defense spending has reached historic levels

A senior Taiwanese official said defense spending has reached historic levels as he responded to former President Trump’s comments earlier this week that the island nation should pay more for its defense amid threats from China.

Kuoyu Chiao, deputy head of the department for North America at Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told reporters at a press conference on Thursday that defense spending accounted for 2.5% of gross domestic product and that Taipei was modernizing its armed forces.

“In the future, Taiwan will continue to work with the United States and like-minded countries to strengthen Taiwan’s defense capability and jointly maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” he said, according to a translation of the remarks. provided by Reuters.

Trump, who is expected to accept the Republican Party’s presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention on Thursday night, told Bloomberg Businessweek that Taiwan should pay the US for its defense.

“We are no different than an insurance company,” Trump said, suggesting the island nation could pay for its defense due to its dominance in semiconductor chip manufacturing.

Taiwan Prime Minister Cho Jung-tai said on Wednesday that Taipei was “willing to take more responsibility” for its defense, but noted that they were increasing defense spending and reinstating mandatory one-year military service.

Trump also threatened not to defend European allies who do not pay enough in defense spending, a point of contention in the Western security alliance, NATO.

He also promised to end the war in Ukraine before taking office, raising fears about how this could be achieved without ceding territory to Russia.

While some Republicans have been hesitant to support Ukraine, standing up to China maintains bipartisan support in Washington, as does defending Taiwan against any potential Chinese aggression.

Beijing considers Taiwan, which broke away from the mainland in 1949 after a civil war and communist takeover, to be historically part of its country and has vowed to unify with the island by force if necessary.

The US has unofficial relations with Taiwan, but has committed to supporting the country, including through arms sales. Last month, the Biden administration approved a $360 million arms sale to Taiwan, prompting China to cancel arms control and nonproliferation talks.

China has stepped up its military exercises and patrols around Taiwan in recent years and conducted one of its largest exercises earlier this year following the inauguration of pro-US Taiwanese President William Lai Ching-te.

This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story