Maintaining peace needs a powerful defence, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said on Wednesday, as she made a rare visit to a frontline island located right next to China, to mark the anniversary of a key military clash with Chinese forces.
China has stepped up military activity to try and force democratically-governed Taiwan to accept Beijing's sovereignty, despite strong objections from the government in Taipei.
"Our position on maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait is very firm," Tsai told veterans at a lunch, adding that there would be no Taiwan today if they had not prevailed during the crisis in 1958."However, to maintain peace, we must first strengthen ourselves," Tsai added. In August 1958, Chinese forces began more than a month of bombardment of Kinmen, along with the Taiwan-controlled Matsu archipelago further up the coast, including naval and air battles, seeking to force them into submission.
The crisis ended in a stalemate, and Taiwan observes Aug. 23 every year as the date it fended off the Chinese attack.
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