Taiwan's president pledges to build air defense system in face of China threat

“The increase in defense spending has a purpose,” he said in an address to an outdoor crowd on Taiwan National Day. “It is a clear necessity to counter enemy threats and a driving force for developing our defense industries.”

Taiwan is a self-governing island off China’s east coast that the Chinese government claims as part of its territory and says must come under its rule.

The United States, while not recognizing Taiwan as a country, supplies its government with military equipment for its defense and opposes any use of military force by China to settle its dispute with Taiwan.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson on Friday criticized U.S. arms sales to Taiwan and military ties between Washington and Taipei.

“The Lai Ching-te authorities’ attempt to seek independence through military means and resist reunification with force will only drag Taiwan into a perilous situation of military conflict,” said spokesperson Guo Jiakun.

Lai called Taiwan a “beacon of democracy” in Asia, drawing a distinction with China’s one-party state.

“Democratic Taiwan ... will strive to maintain the status quo, protect peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, and promote regional prosperity and development,” he said from a large stage set up in front of the early 20th-century presidential office building.

Most of his speech focused on economic issues, including Taiwan's response to the high tariffs that President Donald Trump has imposed on exports to the United States this year.

The government has launched a 93 billion New Taiwan dollar ($3 billion) plan to help companies, workers and those in farming and fishing who are affected by the tariffs.

“We will also actively engage in reciprocal tariff negotiations with the U.S. to secure a reasonable rate,” Lai said.

Without mentioning Trump, he said America's tariffs have added to the challenges already facing the world — namely the Russia-Ukraine war, the turmoil in the Middle East, and China’s continued military expansion.

The Chinese military regularly sends fighter jets and warships into the skies and waters off Taiwan and has staged major military exercises in the area in recent years.

Lai said his government would establish a rigorous defense system with high-level detection and effective interception capabilities.

His use of the phrase “T-Dome,” short for Taiwan Dome, was an apparent reference to the Iron Dome system that Israel has developed.

It was not immediately clear if the “T-Dome” referred to a new defense system or if it was a new name for existing initiatives. A Defense Ministry spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for clarification.

Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said in a report this week that it is training soldiers to shoot down drones and looking to procure anti-drone weapons systems in response to China’s expanding development and use of military drones.

Trump has pressured Taiwan to increase military spending to 10% of its GDP, an expectation reiterated on Tuesday by the nominee to be the Pentagon’s senior official for the Indo-Pacific region.

The “T-Dome” allows Taiwan to signal to the U.S. that it is increasing its defense spending rapidly, while keeping its military buildup defensive in nature, said Wen-Ti Sung, a fellow with the Atlantic Council.

“Lai clearly heard U.S. calls for Taiwan to increase its defense spending, which is why Lai spelled out very specific defense-budget-as-share-of-GDP targets and a specific timeline,” Sung added.

Taiwan, home to 23 million people, operates independently but has not declared formal independence, which would risk provoking a Chinese military response.

China and Taiwan have been governed separately since 1949, when a civil war brought the Communist Party to power in Beijing. Defeated Nationalist Party forces fled to Taiwan, where they set up their own government.

Taiwan's Oct. 10 national day marks the anniversary of a 1911 uprising in China that led to the fall of its last imperial dynasty. It comes nine days after China's national day on Oct. 1, when communist revolutionary leader Mao Zedong declared the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949.

Moritsugu reported from Beijing. Associated Press journalists Johnson Lai in Taipei, Taiwan, and Huizhong Wu in Bangkok contributed to this report.