Not Seeking An Arms Race With China But Won't Submit To Pressure, Says Taiwan

Tensions between Taiwan and China, which claims the democratically-governed island as its own territory, have spiked over the past year as Beijing ups its military and political pressure to force Taipei to accept Chinese sovereignty.

Taiwan is not seeking to get into an arms race with China but does need to defend itself and will not submit to pressure, its defence ministry said in a report to parliament on Wednesday.

Tensions between Taiwan and China, which claims the democratically-governed island as its own territory, have spiked over the past year as Beijing ups its military and political pressure to force Taipei to accept Chinese sovereignty.

That has included repeated missions by Chinese warplanes in Taiwan's air defence identification zone, or ADIZ, which covers a broader area than Taiwan's territorial air space which Taiwan monitors and patrols to give it more time to respond to any threats.

China is in the midst of a military modernisation programme, building new aircraft carriers and stealth fighters, while Taiwan is also increasing military spending, especially on developing new missiles and submarines.