Taiwan president says defence spending boost aims to ‘deter war’

China condemns Lai’s speech, ​saying it ‘disregards facts, ⁠distorts the truth, misleads ​the public’.

Taiwan President William Lai Ching-te delivers a speech during National Day celebrations in front of the Presidential Office in Taipei on October 10, 2026 [Ann Wang/Reuters]

Taiwan President William Lai Ching-te says the island “cherishes peace” and will “not give up our freedom” in a National Day speech outside the Presidential Office in Taipei.

Lai made the remarks on Saturday in front of thousands of people, including foreign guests and diplomats. Fighter jets and two Chinook helicopters carrying giant Taiwan flags flew over Taipei before his speech.

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“We are open to exchanges but will not accept subordination,” he said. “Our aim by increasing investment in national defence is not to provoke; rather, it is to deter war.”

China’s Taiwan Affairs Office condemned Lai’s speech, saying it “disregards facts, ⁠distorts the truth, misleads the public, and reveals ulterior motives”.

It said ‌Lai “stubbornly clung to ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist thinking” and exaggerated the “threat from the mainland”.

“There is only one ⁠China in the ⁠world, and Taiwan is part of China – this is the ⁠true status quo in ⁠the Taiwan ⁠Strait,” it said.

Taiwan’s future “can and must be decided jointly by ‌all the Chinese people, including our compatriots in ‌Taiwan”, ‌it also said.

The holiday marks the 115th anniversary of a 1911 uprising that toppled China’s last imperial dynasty and led to the founding of the Republic of China.

Taiwan’s 23 million people live under the threat of an attack by China, which insists the island is part of its territory, has never renounced the use of force to take it and calls Lai a “separatist”.

Beijing has rebuffed his offers of talks.

Lai said China continued to “apply pressure through military and grey-zone activities in an attempt to alter the status quo across the Taiwan Strait”.

Grey-zone tactics are actions that stop short of open war. “Peace cannot rely solely on wishes, and tolerance cannot become a pretext for aggressors to encroach ever further,” he added.

Lai’s government has set aside a record 1.1 trillion New Taiwan dollars ($34.5bn) for defence in 2027, more than 3 percent of its gross domestic product.

China held war games around the island shortly after Lai’s first National Day speech in 2024 but not last year. Its last drills near Taiwan were in late December after news of an $11bn arms deal with the United States, the largest ever US weapons package for the island.

Lai said he welcomed talks between the US and China but insisted “there must be respect for the right of the people of Taiwan to exist”.

He urged democracies in the Asia Pacific to join forces to preserve peace and stability in the region.

Lai also said China has exerted pressure to try to change the status quo across the Taiwan Strait and the island’s “resolve” is not just about its own survival in the face of “authoritarian expansion”. It’s also about whether the international community still believes that force cannot override rules, he added.

According to Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defence, 21 Chinese military aircraft and seven navy ships were operating around Taiwan in a 24-hour period ending at 6am on Saturday (22:00 GMT on Friday). Thirteen of the aircraft crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait, which once served as an unofficial barrier between the two sides, and entered the island’s air defence identification zone.

Eswatini King Mswati III and Indiana Lieutenant Governor Micah Beckwith were among the foreign guests who offered their congratulations in Taiwan, Lai’s office said. Eswatini is Taiwan’s only diplomatic ally in Africa. A Japanese parliamentary delegation also visited the island and joined the National Day celebrations.

The US switched its official diplomatic relations from Taipei to Beijing nearly 50 years ago but remains Taiwan’s most important security backer.

Officials in Washington and Taipei have repeatedly said US policy on Taiwan has not changed under President Donald Trump.

In May, after meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, Trump suggested arms sales to Taiwan could be a bargaining chip with China, which set off alarm across the world.

Taiwan is now waiting for Trump to sign off on $14bn worth of weapons, including the US-made Patriot air defence system.

The dispute dates back to China’s civil war, when the nationalist forces of Chiang Kai-shek retreated to Taiwan in 1949 after defeat by Mao Zedong’s communists.

The Republic of China remains the island’s formal name.

中国谴责赖清德的讲话，称其“罔顾事实，歪曲真相，误导公众”。

2026年10月10日，台湾总统赖清德在台北总统府前发表国庆庆典演讲。[Ann Wang/路透社]

台湾总统赖清德在台北总统府外发表国庆日讲话时表示，台湾“珍视和平”，并且“不会放弃我们的自由”。

赖清德周六在数千名听众面前发表了讲话，听众包括外国嘉宾和外交官。在他讲话前，战斗机和两架悬挂着巨幅台湾旗帜的奇努克直升机飞越台北上空。

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他说：“我们愿意进行交流，但绝不接受臣服。我们增加国防投入的目的不是为了挑衅，而是为了遏制战争。”

中国国务院台湾事务办公室谴责赖清德的讲话，称其“罔顾事实、歪曲真相、误导公众、别有用心”。

报告称，赖清德“顽固坚持‘台独’分裂思想”，并夸大了“来自大陆的威胁”。

“世界上只有一个中国，台湾是中国的一部分——这就是台海的真实现状，”声明中写道。

声明还表示，台湾的未来“可以而且必须由全体中国人民，包括我们在台湾的同胞共同决定”。

这个节日是为了纪念1911年推翻中国最后一个封建王朝、建立中华民国的起义115周年。

台湾2300万人民生活在中国的攻击威胁之下，中国坚称台湾是其领土的一部分，从未放弃使用武力夺取台湾，并称赖清德为“分裂分子”。

北京方面拒绝了他的会谈提议。

赖表示，中国继续“通过军事和灰色地带活动施加压力，企图改变台湾海峡的现状”。

灰色地带战术是指那些不诉诸公开战争的行动。他补充说：“和平不能仅仅依赖于愿望，宽容也不能成为侵略者进一步侵略的借口。”

赖清德政府已拨出创纪录的 1.1 万亿新台币（345 亿美元）用于 2027 年的国防开支，超过其国内生产总值的 3%。

2024年赖清德首次发表国庆演说后不久，中国在台湾附近举行了军事演习，但去年没有。中国最近一次在台湾附近举行演习是在去年12月底，此前有消息称中国与美国达成了一项价值110亿美元的军售协议，这是美国有史以来向台湾提供的最大宗武器。

赖清德表示欢迎中美对话，但他坚持“必须尊重台湾人民的生存权”。

他敦促亚太地区的民主国家携手合作，维护该地区的和平与稳定。

赖清德还表示，中国一直在施压，试图改变台海现状，而台湾的“决心”不仅关乎自身在“威权扩张”面前的生存，也关乎国际社会是否仍然相信武力不能凌驾于规则之上。

据台湾国防部消息，截至周六早上6点（格林尼治标准时间周五晚上10点），过去24小时内，共有21架中国军用飞机和7艘海军舰艇在台湾附近海域活动。其中13架飞机越过台湾海峡中线（该线曾是两岸非正式的隔离带），进入台湾防空识别区。

赖清德办公室表示，斯威士兰国王姆斯瓦蒂三世和印第安纳州副州长迈卡·贝克威斯等外国贵宾到访台湾，向台湾表示祝贺。斯威士兰是台湾在非洲唯一的邦交国。日本国会代表团也访问了台湾，并参加了国庆庆祝活动。

美国早在近50年前就将官方外交关系从台北转移到了北京，但仍然是台湾最重要的安全支持者。

华盛顿和台北的官员多次表示，在唐纳德·特朗普总统的领导下，美国对台政策没有改变。

5月，特朗普在北京会见中国国家主席习近平后表示，对台军售可能成为与中国谈判的筹码，这引起了全世界的警惕。

台湾现在正等待特朗普批准价值 140 亿美元的武器采购，其中包括美国制造的“爱国者”防空系统。

这场争端可以追溯到中国内战时期，1949年蒋介石的国民党军队在被毛泽东的共产党军队击败后撤退到台湾。

中华民国仍是该岛的正式名称。