BEIJING (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th January, 2023) Taiwan's leader, Tsai Ing-wen, told former NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen during their meeting on Wednesday that Taiwan will continue to strengthen its defense capabilities to meet security challenges in the Indo-Pacific.
"Going forward, we will continue to improve our defense capabilities and, together with other democratic allies, maintain peace, security and stability in the Indo-Pacific region," Tsai said.
The Taiwanese leader added that the island was facing "ever-growing authoritarianism."
Rasmussen, the co-founder of the Alliance of Democracies foundation who also served as Denmark's prime minister from 2001 to 2009 and NATO's secretary general from 2009 to 2014, is visiting Taiwan from January 3-5.
In addition to Tsai, the ex-NATO chief is also expected to meet with Taiwan's second-top official Lai Ching-te and foreign affairs chief Joseph Wu, as well as lawmakers and think-tank representatives. The talks are expected to focus on Taiwanese democracy and the perceived Chinese "military threat" in the Taiwan Strait.
In December 2022, Tsai announced the extension of compulsory military service to one year from the current four months from January 1, 2024, amid the Chinese military exercises near the island.
Taiwan and China have been at odds since the end of a civil war in 1949. Beijing has insisted that other countries should respect the one-China principle after a visit of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taipei in August 2022 unleashed a wave of political pilgrimage to Taiwan.
