{"id":87970,"date":"2019-08-15T12:00:10","date_gmt":"2019-08-15T12:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/08\/15\/us-says-taiwan-defense-spending-to-rise-with-china-threat\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T09:01:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T09:01:15","slug":"us-says-taiwan-defense-spending-to-rise-with-china-threat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/flashpoints\/2019\/08\/15\/us-says-taiwan-defense-spending-to-rise-with-china-threat\/","title":{"rendered":"US: Taiwan defense spending to rise with China threat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

TAIPEI, Taiwan \u2014 America\u2019s top representative in Taiwan said Thursday that Washington expects the island to continue increasing its defense spending as Chinese security threats to the U.S. ally continue to grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

W. Brent Christensen<\/a> said the U.S. had \u201cnot only observed Taiwan\u2019s enthusiasm to pursue necessary platforms to ensure its self-defense, but also its evolving tenacity to develop its own indigenous defense industry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was a nod to President Tsai Ing-wen<\/a>\u2019s drive to develop domestic training jets, submarines and other weapons technology, supplementing arms bought from the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“These investments by Taiwan are commendable, as is Taiwan’s ongoing commitment to increase the defense budget annually to ensure that Taiwan’s spending is sufficient to provide for its own self-defense needs,” Christensen said in a speech. “And we anticipate that these figures will continue to grow commensurate with the threats Taiwan faces.”<\/p>\n\n\n\t