Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen confirmed the presence of U.S. military trainers on the island during a CNN broadcast on Tuesday.
Taiwan’s increasing military power: President Tsai is the first Taiwan president to confirm the presence of the U.S. military for training purposes in decades, according to CNN.
- Tsai was first elected in 2016 after large student and civic group movements protested her Chinese Nationalist Party predecessor Ma Ying-jeou for wanting to form closer ties with China.
- After being re-elected in 2020, Tsai stated her plans to rapidly increase Taiwan’s military power.
- She said that China is becoming more of a threat “every day.”
- “When authoritarian regimes demonstrate expansionist tendencies, democratic countries should come together to stand against them. Taiwan is on the front lines,” she told CNN on Tuesday.
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U.S. involvement: The U.S. has become increasingly involved in the conflict between Taiwan and China.
- Last week, President Biden vowed to defend Taiwan in the case of an attack from China, breaking the U.S.’ longstanding policy of “strategic ambiguity.”
- Biden also said the U.S. will support Taiwan’s decision to enter the United Nations.
- Tsai said Taiwan has had the intention to take on a greater role at the UN for a while. She said she was not concerned about aggravating Beijing.
- “We have expressed our hope that we want to be part of the UN system,” she told CNN. “And China has their story to tell. And it’s for the international community to judge.”
Increasing tensions: However, China said that Taiwan has no right to join the UN after the U.S. expressed its support.
- “Taiwan has no right to join the United Nations,” Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office in Beijing, said, Agence France-Presse reported.
- China is firm on its “one country, two systems” policy, which claims Taiwan as part of its country. The country said they have “no room for compromise” on its territorial claims on the island.
