Pentagon official urges Taiwan to boost defence spending in face of possible attack by mainland
- David Helvey says the self-ruled island ‘must have resources to modernise its military’
- Accuses Beijing of attempting to ‘erode Taiwan’s diplomatic space’ at defence industry conference
A Pentagon official is urging Taiwan to ramp up its defence budget to protect against potential attacks from mainland China.
David Helvey, US principal deputy assistant secretary of defence for Asian and Pacific security affairs, told a conference in Annapolis, Maryland on Monday that the self-ruled island “must have resources to modernise its military and provide the critical materiel, manning and training needed to deter, or if necessary defeat, a cross-strait invasion”.
Helvey said “Taiwan’s current efforts will falter” unless its defence budgets keep growing, according to a transcript of his remarks released by the US-Taiwan Defence Industry Conference on Tuesday.
The official also accused China of attempting to “erode Taiwan’s diplomatic space in the international arena while increasing the frequency and scale of [People’s Liberation Army] activity within and beyond the First Island Chain”.
The first island chain refers to the first chain of major archipelagos, including Taiwan and Japan, out from the East Asian continental mainland coast.