Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen said Tuesday that China is conducting 'cognitive warfare' by spreading misinformation. “The situation around the Taiwan Strait continues to be tense, and the threat has never ceased,' Tsai said.
Anti-drone defenses are included in a 12.9% increase in Taiwan’s defense budget for next year. The rise will increase total spending to $13.8 billion, or roughly 2.4% of GDP.
“We will continue to hold the attitude of being prepared for war,” Lt. Col. Jing Feng-huang told reporters at the site of the drills. “We will not shy away from war but will not seek it out.” Alongside promoting Taiwan’s high-tech economy, Tsai has made strengthening the island’s defenses a key feature of her second and last four-year term in office. That includes bulking up the domestic defense industry as well as procuring more weaponry from the U.S., including fighter jets and missiles, to resist a potential Chinese attack or attempted blockade.
Tensions have been running high ever since Tsai’s initial 2016 election and spiked last month when U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei. China fired missiles into the Taiwan Strait and over the island into the Pacific and sent ships and planes across the midline of the strait that had long been a buffer against outright conflict.
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