Opposition figure's visit to China sparks criticism in Taipei 

Taiwan intends to raise its military expenditures to a record level

US-made Taiwanese tanks fire during a maneuver in the Pinghu Islands.

AFP

Taiwan announced yesterday that it intends to increase its military budget, which will reach an unprecedented level, in an atmosphere of escalating disputes with China, which this month carried out military exercises off the island's coast, while the visit of a Taiwan opposition figure to China sparked local criticism.

Taipei has proposed a new military budget of 415.1 billion Taiwan dollars (13.7 billion euros) for next year, an increase of 13% compared to last year's budget.

Parliament should approve this record amount.

The body in charge of budgets said in a statement that the money will be allocated for the purchase of combat aircraft.

"In order to safeguard national security, next year's total defense budget will reach NT$586.3 billion, which is a record," a spokesman said, quoting Prime Minister Su Tsing-chang.

The visit of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, to Taipei, has escalated tension in the Taiwan Strait to the highest level in years, raising fears that Beijing will use force to control the island, which it considers part of its territory.

Beijing is still numerically superior to Taiwan, whose army includes 88,000 soldiers in the land force, compared to one million men for China, according to estimates by the US Department of Defense (Pentagon).

The island has modernized its aging combat fleet in recent years, amid growing fears of military action by China.

This comes at a time when the Ministry of Defense said that Taiwan will start deploying defense systems with drones on its offshore islands next year, after a video clip appeared of Taiwanese soldiers throwing stones at a Chinese drone while it was flying over a guard post near the coast of China.

Taiwan complained of repeated Chinese drone strikes near its offshore islands, as part of Chinese war games and exercises after Pelosi's visit to Taipei.

The short video clip, which was first circulated on Chinese social media, before being published by Taiwanese media, shows two soldiers throwing stones at a drone that approached their guard post with stones.

In a statement issued late Wednesday, the defense command of the Taiwan-controlled Kinmen Islands group, located off the Chinese cities of Xiamen and Quanzhou, said the accident occurred on August 16 on Erdan Island, and confirmed that soldiers threw stones to drive away what it called a civilian drone.

Taiwan's Defense Ministry said, in a separate statement, that it will deploy anti-aircraft systems from next year, and they will be placed first on smaller islands.

She added that officers and soldiers at all levels will continue to be vigilant, in accordance with the principle of "not escalating disputes or provoking disputes."

China did not comment on the video, which received millions of views on Chinese social media, and was ridiculed by users.

It also sparked a heated debate in Taiwan, where some social media users described the incident as a "humiliation" for the island's armed forces, urging the Defense Ministry to intensify its countermeasures to the increasingly frequent drone strikes.

Meanwhile, a visit by a Taiwanese opposition figure to China, weeks after Beijing launched missiles over the island, sparked criticism at home, despite his efforts to criticize the exercises, according to Bloomberg News.

Deputy Chairman of the Nationalist Party (KMT) Andrew Hsia called for the resumption of cross-Strait talks and the establishment of more air links during

The meeting near Shanghai with the president of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits

Chang Zhijun, where Beijing uses the Assembly to conduct its affairs with Taiwan.

Zhegyun described the PLA's exercises as necessary to secure China's sovereignty and counter what Beijing calls Taiwan's independence forces.

In Taiwan, Hsia was criticized by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party in Taipei for his travel to China, shortly after Beijing's most provocative military exercises in decades.

"While China conducted exercises against Taiwan, a Nationalist Party member of parliament should not have gone to China to cajole the Communist Party," Democratic Progressive Party deputy Wang Ting-yu said in a video clip sent to reporters yesterday.

 Taiwan will begin next year to deploy defense systems with drones on its offshore islands.

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