Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te said the island’s military must know who they are fighting against and not succumb to defeatism, saying that defending the island’s sovereignty will ensure Taiwan’s existence as a country.
In a speech, he told the school’s cadets that Taiwan is facing an unprecedented challenge from its communist neighbor, China.
“All instructors and cadets should understand the challenges and missions of the new era,” Mr. Lai said. “The biggest challenge is to face the powerful rise of China, which is destroying the status quo across the Taiwan Strait and seeing the annexation of Taiwan and the elimination of the Republic of China as its national cause of great rejuvenation.”
President Lai’s remarks come as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) becomes increasingly hostile toward Taiwan, a self-ruled island that the Chinese regime claims as its territory.
At this month’s Shangri-La Dialogue defense forum in Singapore, the Chinese regime’s defense minister, Dong Jun, criticized President Lai and his ruling Democratic Progressive Party, calling them “separatists” and accusing them of “betrayal of the Chinese nation.”
CCP leader Xi Jinping, in his 2024 New Year address, spoke of the “glory of the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” with Taiwan under his reign. China has never renounced the use of military force to annex Taiwan.
The CCP’s territorial claims over Taiwan are baseless because the Chinese regime has never ruled the island. In reality, Taiwan is a de-facto sovereign nation with its own democratically elected officials, constitution, currency, and military.
President Lai said the Taiwanese military has a clear mission.
“The highest mission is to bravely shoulder the important responsibility of protecting Taiwan and maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” President Lai said. “Only with sovereignty can there be a country, and only with Taiwan can there be the Republic of China.
“We must be able to distinguish between ourselves and our enemies, between friends and foes, and [we] absolutely cannot accept defeatism of ‘the first battle is the last battle.'”
He was referring to a Chinese theory that Taiwan would quickly collapse in the event of a CCP attack on the island.
The ROC Military Academy, previously known as the Whampoa Military Academy, was founded in China on June 16, 1924. At the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the academy relocated to Taiwan along with the ROC government. The academy reopened in Kaohsiung in 1950.
In his speech, President Lai pledged to strengthen the island’s national defense, continue pushing for defense reform, and improve the military’s combat effectiveness. He said his administration also will “stand side by side” with democratic countries around the world to jointly exert deterrence and avoid war.
“Heartfelt thanks to the leaders of the #G7 for reaffirming the importance of peace & stability in the Taiwan Strait and for supporting #Taiwan’s [international] participation,” he wrote. “As a responsible global stakeholder, Taiwan will continue to safeguard the status quo & our hard-won democracy.”
