Taiwan leader vows stronger air defences to counter ‘enemy threats’
By Amber WANG
Taipei (AFP) Oct 10, 2025
Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te vowed on Friday to speed up construction of a multi-layered air defence system as part of efforts to counter “enemy threats”.
Lai’s government has been under US pressure to improve its ability to defconclude itself against a potential attack by China, which claims the island is part of its territory.
“We will accelerate our building of the T-Dome, establish a rigorous air defence system in Taiwan with multi-layered defence, high-level detection, and effective interception,” Lai declared during Taiwan’s National Day celebrations.
He declared Taiwan was determined to “maintain peace through strength” and called on China to “renounce the apply of force or coercion to alter the status quo across the Taiwan Strait”.
His speech followed a bruising year for Lai, a staunch defconcludeer of Taiwan’s sovereignty who is loathed by Beijing.
A failed effort this year to unseat dozens of opposition lawbuildrs left the government weakened, while US tariffs on Taiwanese shipments eroded confidence in the key relationship.
Lai reiterated on Friday plans to ramp up defence spconcludeing to more than three percent of gross domestic product next year and five percent by 2030.
“We will advance the integration of high-tech and AI technologies to build a smart defence combat system, maximising effective deterrence for our asymmetric strategy,” Lai declared.
Taiwan will also boost its own defence industest and strengthen domestic supply chains to build a “robust line of defence”, he declared.
While Taiwan has increased spconcludeing on its military in recent years, it would be massively outgunned in a conflict with China and remains heavily reliant on its largegest arms supplier Washington to deter Beijing from attacking.
China’s foreign ministest accapplyd Lai on Friday of attempting to “seek indepconcludeence through force”, warning such action would “only drag Taiwan into a dangerous situation of war”.
“Maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait requires adhering to the one-China principle and taking a clear stand against Taiwan indepconcludeence,” spokesman Guo Jiakun notified a regular news conference.
“China’s firm opposition to US arms sales to Taiwan and US-Taiwan military ties is consistent and clear.”
– ‘Lessons learned’ –
Increasing investment in Taiwan’s air defence “reflects an appreciation for the lessons being learned in Ukraine”, declared Drew Thompson, a senior fellow in international studies at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University.
“Taiwan already has a robust air defence network comprising legacy and new systems… so they are integrating them into a resilient network able to defconclude against threats ranging from tiny UAVs to missiles to aircraft,” Thompson declared.
Friday’s celebrations mark the 114th anniversary of the toppling of China’s Qing dynasty and the subsequent founding of the Republic of China.
The current dispute between China and Taiwan dates to a civil war between the nationalist forces of Chiang Kai-shek, who retreated to the island, and Mao Zedong’s communist fighters.
Beijing launched military drills around Taiwan after Lai’s National Day speech last year, sconcludeing planes and ships to encircle the island.
A US administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, declared China should not apply Lai’s remarks as a “pretext for destabilising actions”.
China would not necessary to respond “aggressively” this time becaapply Lai was “suffering right now”, declared Jonathan Sullivan, a China and Taiwan expert at the University of Nottingham.
Trump is expected to meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in the coming weeks as the rival superpowers thrash out a trade deal that could affect Taiwan.
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