The President of Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wen , assured that her country lives in constant threat with China and confirmed the presence of a small number of US troops to help train the island’s army. The Taiwanese leader also noted that the island is the center of growing tensions between the United States and China.
In this sense, he argued that the island of 23 million people “strives every day to protect our democracy and ensure that our people have the kind of freedom they deserve,” said Tsai Ing-wen.
In an interview with the US network CNN, the president praised the democratic values of her country and described it as a “beacon” of democracy in the region that faces its giant neighbor, whose threat grows “every day .”
This October, the Pentagon confirmed the presence of US troops in Taiwan, which Beijing considers an integral part of its territory and an offense for them .
Today, relations between Taipei and Beijing are at their lowest point in decades. Earlier this month, China’s armed forces sent a record number of fighter jets around Taiwan, while diplomats and state media warned of a possible invasion unless the island respected the Communist Party of China line ( CCP).
Taiwan and mainland China have been ruled separately since the nationalists withdrew to Taiwan at the end of the Chinese civil war more than 70 years ago. Taiwan is now a flourishing democracy, but mainland China’s ruling Communist Party (CCP) continues to regard the island as an inseparable part of its territory, even though it has never controlled it.
The shows of force are in part the result of strengthening ties between Taiwan and the United States under Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Large arms sales and high-profile visits by US officials have strengthened Taiwan’s international position and antagonized Beijing.
Tsai did not want to say exactly how many US military personnel are on the island today, but said that “there were not as many as people thought.” “We have a wide range of cooperation with the United States with the aim of increasing our defense capabilities,” he warned.
The status quo
The Chinese government believes that Tsai and his party, the Democratic Progressive Party , are in favor of formal Taiwan independence, despite their public statements in favor of the status quo , an agreement whereby Taiwan remains autonomous, without a declaration. official. But the Tsai presidency has been relentlessly attacked and ridiculed from across the Taiwan Strait.
In the first five days of October, Beijing flew a total of 150 fighter jets, nuclear-capable bombers, anti-submarine jets, and airborne early warning and control jets into Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone, according to the Taiwan Defense Ministry. the island.
It was a carefully executed show of force by the Chinese government: it drifted into areas where it would elicit a response from Taiwan, but did not enter the island’s airspace.
Tsai pointed out on CNN that the government needs to better adapt its armed forces to defend a small island, rather than a conventional fighting force.
“We have a system that is inherited from China, which is a very different country. The way you defend a large territory is different from the way you protect a small island, so we have to change the traditional thinking about how an army should be structured, ”said the Taiwanese leader.
