History has many examples of smaller armies defeating larger opponents. This was stated by the President of Taiwan Lai Ching-te to officers of the country's air force, reports "Reuters".
His words of encouragement came ahead of the annual military exercises, which will take place later this month.
China considers democratically-ruled Taiwan its territory and for four years has regularly staged exercises around the island to pressure Taipei to accept Beijing's claims to sovereignty, despite strong objections from Taiwan itself.
Taiwan's armed forces are smaller than China's.
However, Taipei has modernized its military with new equipment such as submarines and embraced the idea of "asymmetric warfare," to make its forces more mobile and difficult to attack, for example with vehicle-mounted missiles and drones.
Lai emphasized that military power is not a simple mathematical matter of addition and subtraction.
"The amount of equipment, of course, is important, but it cannot represent the military power of a country," he pointed out.
"There are many instances in history of the few defeating the many, and there are countless ways to defeat old-fashioned enemies with new thinking," the president assured.
Last month, a senior Taiwanese official said that this year's annual Han Kuang exercises will be as close to actual combat as possible, no longer just a point-scoring show but aimed at simulating actual combat given the rapidly growing " ;enemy threat" from China.
Taiwan begins its five-day Han Kuang exercises on July 22, along with the Wan An civil defense exercises, in which cities are briefly shut down during simulated airstrikes.
China also held two days of military exercises around the island shortly after Lai took office in May, saying it was "punishment" for his inauguration speech, which Beijing denounced as full of separatist content.
Lai rejects Beijing's claims to sovereignty and argues that only the people of Taiwan can decide their future. He has repeatedly proposed negotiations, which have, however, been rejected by China.
"The peace we want is a peace with a solid foundation, a real peace that must be established by our own strength," Lai emphasized.
China has previously warned that it is foolish for Taiwan to think it can use weapons to prevent "unification".
Asked if Taiwan is giving people the wrong impression that it is preparing for war with its focus on defense self-sufficiency, Lai said it wants peace.
"Some people may have such concerns, but everyone knows that we are a peaceful country," he pointed out. "But the peace we want is a "real peace" which has a solid foundation and is established by our own strength".