Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen declared on Wednesday that maintaining peace requires a powerful defense. Her comment comes after the island recently decided to increase its military budget to a new high of 2.5% of GDP.
"Our position on maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait is very firm," Tsai told veterans at a lunch on the Kinmen island, the closest point to China, less than 2 Km away.
"We must thus continue to implement national defense reforms, promote defense self-sufficiency, and continuously improve the combat power and resilience of national defense," she added.