{"id":2437,"date":"2026-10-10T12:03:53","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T07:03:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2437"},"modified":"2026-10-10T12:03:53","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T07:03:53","slug":"taiwan-cherishes-peace-but-will-not-give-up-freedom-president-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2437","title":{"rendered":"Taiwan cherishes peace but will not give up freedom, president says"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Taiwan cherishes peace but will not \u200bgive up its freedom, and there must be respect for the right of Taiwan\u2019s people to exist, President \u200cLai Ching-te said on Saturday in a National Day speech, adding that boosting defences is not a provocation.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Democratically governed Taiwan has faced increased military and political pressure from China, which views the island as its own territory over the strong objections of the government in Taipei.<\/p>\n

Facing China\u2019s far larger military, which is adding \u200badvanced new weapons such as stealth-fighter jets, aircraft carriers and a huge array of missiles, Taiwan is ramping up defence spending<\/a> \u200band modernising its armed forces.<\/p>\n

Peace cannot rely solely on \u201cwishes\u201d, Lai said outside the Presidential Office. \u201cTaiwan cherishes peace, \u2060but we will not give up our freedom. We are open to exchanges, but will not accept subordination.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taiwan\u2019s resolve is not only \u200ba matter of its survival in the face of \u201cauthoritarian expansion\u201d, he added. \u201cIt is about whether the international community still believes that force cannot override \u200brules, and that the powerful cannot strip a people of their right to determine their own future.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/a>Defence investment not \u2018Provocation\u2019<\/h2>\n

China\u2019s Taiwan Affairs Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Lai\u2019s speech. China, which has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control, calls the president \u200ba \u201cseparatist\u201d and has rebuffed his offers of talks.<\/p>\n

The US welcomes Lai\u2019s commitment to maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, a senior US administration official said, adding that, in reference to China, \u201ca routine speech is no justification for aggressive or coercive actions\u201d.<\/p>\n

The United States is Taiwan\u2019s \u200cmost important \u2060international backer despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties.<\/p>\n

Lai said his government\u2019s increased investment in defence aimed to deter war, not provoke it.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we are strengthening our self-defence not to abandon dialogue, but to ensure that dialogue can take place based on parity and dignity,\u201d he told the crowd, where he also watched military displays and dancing performances.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere must be respect for the right of the people \u200bof Taiwan to exist.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/a>US yet to approve new arms package<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In 2024, \u2060shortly after Lai\u2019s first National Day speech as president, China held war games around the island but did not do so last year.<\/p>\n

Its last war games<\/a> near Taiwan were in late December, following news of \u200ban $11-billion US arms deal for Taipei, the largest ever. US President Donald Trump has yet to approve \u200ba second package, \u2060worth $14 billion.<\/a><\/p>\n

Lai said he welcomed the United States and China managing their competition through dialogue<\/a> and reducing the risk of conflict and war. But he urged democracies in the Indo-Pacific region to join forces to retain the status quo of peace and stability in the region.<\/p>\n

Taiwan\u2019s National Day is \u2060held on \u200bthe anniversary of a 1911 uprising that led to the overthrow of China\u2019s \u200blast imperial dynasty and the establishment of the Republic of China.<\/p>\n

The Republican government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong\u2019s communists, and the \u200bRepublic of China remains the island\u2019s formal name.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Taiwan cherishes peace but will not \u200bgive up its freedom, and there must be respect for the right of Taiwan\u2019s people to exist, President \u200cLai Ching-te said on Saturday in a National Day speech, adding that boosting defences is not a provocation. Democratically governed Taiwan has faced increased military and political pressure from China, which views the island as its own territory over the strong objections of the government in Taipei. Facing China\u2019s far larger military, which is adding \u200badvanced new weapons such as stealth-fighter jets, aircraft carriers and a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2437\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}