US visits 'reinforce Taiwan's determination' to defend itself

Recent visits by officials from the United States have reinforced Taiwan's determination to defend itself, President Tsai Ing-wen has said during her meeting with the latest US lawmaker who arrived on the island in defiance of Beijing.

"In recent times, many public figures from a broad spectrum of US society have visited Taiwan. These warm acts of kindness and firm demonstrations of support have reinforced Taiwan's determination to defend itself," she said on Friday, in remarks carried live on Tsai's social media pages.

China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory against the strong objections of the democratically elected government in Taipei, launched military drills near the island after US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited in early August.

About a week later she was followed by five other law makers and late on Thursday, Senator Marsha Blackburn touched down in Taipei.

Blackburn, a Republican from Tennessee who sits on the Senate Commerce and Armed Services committees, told Tsai that the United States and Taiwan shared the values of freedom and democracy.

Tsai said Taiwan would like to be "further integrated" into the Biden administration's new Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, which the island has been excluded from, and other regional economic cooperation architecture. 

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China tensions

US legislators are not the only ones to visit. Tsai also hosted two Japanese parliamentarians this week, and British and Canadian members of parliament are expected later this year.

The United States, like most countries, has no formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan, but is bound by law to provide it with the means to defend itself.

Beijing has never ruled out using force to bring Taiwan under its control.

On Thursday, the executive branch of Taiwan's government laid out plans for a 12.9 percent increase in the Defense Ministry's annual budget next year. 

The government is planning to spend an additional $1.6 billion (47.5 billion New Taiwan dollars), for a total of $13.8 billion (415.1 billion NTD) for the year.

The Defense Ministry said the increase is due to the “Chinese Communists' continued expansion of targeted military activities in recent years, the normalisation of their harassment of Taiwan's nearby waters and airspace with warships and war planes.”

Also Thursday, the Defense Ministry said it tracked four Chinese naval ships and 15 warplanes in the region surrounding the island.

Taiwan's government says the People's Republic of China has never ruled the island and so has no right to claim it, and that only its 23 million people can decide their future.

READ MORE: Taiwan unveils record high defence budget amid tensions with China