Exclusive interview: Taiwan FM addresses China tensions and US ties
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SPECIAL: Taiwan’s foreign minister said China “has clearly become a troublemaker who is maliciously trying to disrupt the cross-Strait status quo and intimidate peaceful countries.”
China’s intensifying “authoritarian expansionism not only directly threatens Taiwan’s security and democratic system, but also poses significant challenges to peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region and around the world,” Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung said in an exclusive comment to Fox News Digital.
“Last June,” said Lin, “[Chinese] aircraft carriers Liaoning and Shandong maneuvered beyond the second island chain, marking China’s first simultaneous, dual-carrier deployment to the Western Pacific. “These developments show that Beijing’s expansionist ambitions extend far beyond Taiwan and pose an increasingly serious threat to the security and stability of the Indo-Pacific region and the world.”
Taiwanese General warns China’s military exercises could be preparations for blockade or war and vows to resist
Taiwanese Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung answers questions from the media at an international press conference in Taipei on July 19, 2024. (Photo: I-Hwa Cheng/Afp via Getty Images)
Communist China was founded in 1949 and has never ruled Taiwan for a day. Officially known as the Republic of China (PRC), Taiwan is currently recognized by eleven smaller countries and the Vatican. Beijing nevertheless rejects the reality of nearly 80 years of separate rule and describes Taiwan as “a sacred and inalienable part of Chinese territory.”
China’s attitude towards independently governed Taiwan has hardened in recent years as President Xi Jinping removed term limits and assumed near-total power. While China’s previous statements talked about “peaceful unification”, Beijing is now openly threatening to use force.
In 2024, Xi instructed the Chinese military to complete preparations for the Taiwan operation by 2027. Most defense analysts agree that an invasion would be costly, bloody, and extremely risky for China, Taiwan, and countries like the United States or Japan that come to Taiwan’s aid.
Military exercises mobilizing the Chinese PLA Navy, Army, Air Force and Chinese Coast Guard, considered retribution for Taiwan’s refusal to submit to Beijing’s rule. (Daniel Ceng/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Lin repeated warnings that a conflict in the Taiwan Strait would reverberate around the world. “Peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait is vital for global security and prosperity,” Lin said, noting that approximately 90 percent of the world’s most advanced semiconductors are produced in Taiwan and approximately 50 percent of global commercial shipping passes through the strait. He added that Taiwan is grateful to the United States and other partners for resisting China’s efforts to unilaterally change the status quo.
The foreign minister said Taiwan’s central role in geopolitics, technology and supply chains enables Washington to give cross-Strait stability a high priority. He said U.S. policymakers understand that Taiwan’s semiconductor industry and related supply chains are critical to America’s economic security.
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A nuclear-powered Type 094A Jin-class ballistic missile submarine of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy is seen during a military demonstration in the South China Sea on April 12, 2018. (Reuters/Stringer)
“There is clear strategic continuity between President Trump’s first- and second-term policies,” Lin said, adding that the Taiwanese government will seek to coordinate with the United States “through values-based, alliance and economic diplomacy.”
Commenting on Washington’s Indo-Pacific strategy, Lin said, “The Trump administration and the US Congress continue to demonstrate a firm commitment to maintaining peace and security in the Indo-Pacific region,” and “this is highlighted in the 2025 National Security Strategy (NSS).” The secretary of state also noted that “the latest NSS issued by the Trump administration underscores the geopolitical importance of Taiwan as a link between the Northeast and Southeast Asian regions.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, reviews troops during an inspection of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army PLA garrison stationed in the Macau Special Administrative Region in southern China, Dec. 20, 2024. (Li Gang/Xinhua via Getty Images)
Lin said Taiwan is working to rebalance trade with the United States while strengthening strategic cooperation on artificial intelligence. “The Trump administration’s Artificial Intelligence Action Plan underscores the importance of innovation, infrastructure and international cooperation for AI development.” he said.
He also praised Taiwan’s growing investments in the United States, including a $165 billion commitment from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) in Arizona, and said Taipei was working to make it easier for Taiwanese companies seeking to invest in the United States. “In an environment of US-China strategic competition and restructuring of global supply chains, Taiwan’s businesses understand the extraordinary potential of investing in the US,” Lin said.
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Lin Chia-lung, currently Taiwan’s foreign minister, speaks to reporters as a cabinet spokesman on Wednesday, March 24, 2004. (David Hartung/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The secretary of state noted that Taiwan appreciates increased American military support, emphasizing: “Last December, the United States approved an arms sales package to Taiwan totaling $11 billion, as well as signing the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act and the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026. These measures underscore the solid bipartisan support for Taiwan in the U.S. government.”
However, he emphasized that Taiwan is accelerating its own defense investments. “Last year, [Taiwan] “President Lai Ching-te announced that Taiwan’s defense budget will increase to more than 3% of GDP by 2026 and to 5% by 2030,” he said. Although parts of this plan have faced resistance in the opposition-led legislature, both major parties have publicly supported closer security cooperation with the United States and a stronger deterrence posture.
