Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has told CNN that her country is “faced with growing threats” from China, adding that that the main challenge is “whether our independent existence, security, prosperity and democracy can be maintained.” Tsai also warned other regional states to fear the rise of China: “If it’s Taiwan today, people should ask who’s next? Any country in the region — if it no longer wants to submit to the will of China, they would face similar military threats.”
Tsai did not say whether she believes the US would come to the aid of her country in case of a Chinese offensive. She explained that her government aims to strengthen Taiwan’s military so that it will be able to hold China back for a while, since they expect that “after withstanding the first wave of Chinese attacks ourselves, the rest of the world would stand up to exert strong pressure on China.”
Read more: Facing an aggressive Beijing, Taiwan’s president issues a warning to the world
