Defense Minister Koo Affirms Taiwan Does Not Want To Go To War With China

UNSPLASH/Lisanto ILLUSTRATION

JAKARTA - Taiwan insists it does not want to go to war with Beijing. Taipei's policy is to build a multi-level defensive defense and deterrence capability to make it difficult for China to seize the island.

Taiwan's Defense Minister Wellington Koo said his country was facing increased military and political pressure from Beijing to accept claims of sovereignty rejected by the government in Taipei.

Taiwan's Lai Ching-te president on Sunday, June 16, said China views Taiwan's annexation and elimination' as a major national destination, and told Taiwanese military cadets not to give up on the first battle'' defeat was the final battle.

When asked reporters in parliament how long Taiwan could last without US support in the event of a Chinese attack, Koo said it was not at the heart of their strategy.

Our strategy, our hypothesis, is an asymmetric war to build multi-domain prevention, and during this process weakens China's ability to carry out an invasion," he said.

As part of ongoing military reforms, Taiwan is promoting the idea of an "asymmetric war", to make its troops, much smaller than China, more dynamic and difficult to attack, for example with missiles and drones mounted on vehicles.