Taiwan is seeking closer security ties with the United States and intends to buy more weapons from the country, Taiwan's Vice Foreign Minister Francois Chichung Wu said, quoted by "Reuters".
"I think there is a way to have closer security ties, unofficially, with the United States," he noted.
"Increasing our defense budget certainly leads to buying more US weapons because the Europeans don't want to sell us weapons," Wu added.
Separately, another senior Taiwanese official said Taiwan was learning from companies in Ukraine that continue to operate during the country's fight against Russia. The island is stepping up contingency planning amid heightened Chinese threats.
China claims democratically-ruled Taiwan as its territory, despite Taipei's objections, and has stepped up its military pressure on the island in recent years, including holding several rounds of major military exercises.
"We hope to learn from Ukraine's first-hand experience of how private companies helped build the resilience of its government and society during wartime," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
He cited companies in Ukraine, including Uber and Microsoft, that continue to provide critical services.
Among the ideas Taiwan has drawn inspiration from Ukraine are how to incorporate supermarkets into the government's distribution network for supplies and use taxi services for medical emergencies, such as blood donations, when the health system is overwhelmed. overloaded.
The official said the government is working to connect companies in Taiwan with their counterparts in Ukraine to help Taiwanese companies quickly increase their contingency planning.
"We have the will to fight, and now we need to carefully consider our will to prepare," the official said. Taiwan is upgrading its air raid warning and shelter systems, taking into account lessons learned from northern European countries and the Baltic states, he added.
A closed-door seminar on preparedness, including stockpiling and civil defense training, was held in Taipei this week, attended by Taiwanese security officials and senior diplomats from countries including the United States, Japan and Australia.
Andy Hunter, who heads the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine and is a speaker at the seminar, said the Taiwanese government should create backup online systems, citing Russian cyberattacks aimed at crippling Ukrainian infrastructure before the first missile attacks.
"What we saw is that during World War II, the safest place for critical infrastructure was down in the tunnels. "Today, the safest infrastructure is in the cloud," Hunter said, adding that payment services such as Mastercard and Visa continue to operate and provide financial stability.
China will increase its defense spending by 7.2 percent this year, maintaining a steady growth rate as Beijing faces sluggish economic expansion amid growing geopolitical challenges from Taiwan to Ukraine. This was reported by Reuters.
China's 2025 economic growth target of about 5 percent is expected and reflects Beijing's ambitions to continue military modernization amid shaking geopolitical challenges.
Since Xi Jinping became president and commander-in-chief more than a decade ago, the defense budget has grown to 1.78 trillion yuan ($245.65 billion). Xi aims to complete a full military modernization by 2035, with the Chinese military developing new missiles, ships, submarines and surveillance technologies.
This year’s report emphasizes the importance of combat readiness and scientific and strategic improvements, but also promises to continue improving the military’s political conduct — a reference to multiple corruption scandals affecting the People’s Liberation Army. Two former defense ministers and a member of the Central Military Commission were among those removed in the past two years.
China has the world’s second-largest military budget after the United States, with a proposed military budget for 2025 of $850 billion.