Name: BBC專訪：蔡英文即將卸任 回顧執政八年成就及挑戰 － BBC News 中文
Uploaded: 2024-11-10T02:48:40.000Z
Duration: 23 min 2 s
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This is Taipei, capital of Taiwan, an island democracy of 23 million people.

Adverbs of degree

But Taiwan's international status is highly contested.

Basic passive voice

It is claimed by Beijing, but it's never been part of the People's Republic of China.

Taiwan has evolved into a thriving democracy.

In 2016, people here chose their first female president, Tsai Ing-wen.

She rejects China's claims to Taiwan and has moved the island further towards Japan and the United States.

When I sat down with President Tsai at her home in Taipei,

I began on that delicate topic, the threat from China, and whether it's increased under the leadership of Xi Jinping.

Do you think the world, the democratic world, should fear Xi Jinping and his ambitions?

I think Xi Jinping now dislike the fact that he may have a plan of some sort, but I don't think that is a definitive plan.

But the world is very different now, especially after the Ukrainian war, because the democracy seems to be able to get together to form a meaningful deterrence whenever there is an invasion contemplated.

So if we deal with the matter very carefully, there's still a great possibility for us to maintain peace as we all need.

Tsai's predecessor, President Ma Ying-jeou, had tried to negotiate with China, even holding a meeting with President Xi Jinping in Singapore.

Tsai's strategy has been completely different.

Instead of trying to conciliate China, she's built up Taiwan's own defences.

Nearly doubling spending, buying new fighter jets and developing Taiwan's first indigenous submarines.

Today the Lion Dance is to celebrate the opening of a new special forces training base on the outskirts of Taipei, another tangible example of where this new military spending is going.

So I guess for President Tsai, this is a sort of demonstration of what she's been trying to achieve in defence policy over the last eight years, because part of her big thing is that Taiwan doesn't spend enough on defence.

When she came in, it was about 2% of GDP.

She's managed to push that up to about 2.5% of GDP.

A lot of people say Taiwan needs to be spending north of 3% of its GDP to have an effective military, given the huge threat that it faces from China.

One of the things you've done very differently from your predecessor, he engaged in dialogue with China.

He was trying to get Taiwan into basically an economic partnership with China.

You, when you came to power, decided on a very different course, it strikes me.

One of, firstly, building up Taiwan's own military strength.

I would say that the military capability of ours is much strengthened with the investments that we have put in in the last eight years.

And also with the assistance of our friends, primarily from the United States.

So the investment that we have put into the military capacity building is unprecedented, despite the fact that people are urging us to increase the budget further.

I think if there's a need, we will always increase and expand our military spendings.

But this is a time for us to use the money available efficiently and to build our capacity at a speed that can match with the expansion of the Chinese military capability.

Today, the president is also meeting some young recruits.

Another major reform she's pushed through is a return to one year of compulsory military service.

She concedes it's not won her many supporters among young voters.

I was actually able to convince the public here that extension of the military service is something that we need to do and I get the support of the people here.

And also the young people, despite they have some complaints, but it's not about their love for the country.

They have love for the country, they have the dedication for the country, and they have no hesitation to serve in the military.

It's just that we have to make sure that their time spent in the military is worthwhile.

We are obligated to provide them with the best equipment, best training, and they know how to protect themselves as well as protect the country.

President Tsai's political opponents call her military strategy naïve, even dangerous.

They point to the vastly superior military forces China now has at its disposal, and they say trying to defeat these with Taiwan's much smaller forces is a fool's errand.

It has a small population compared to China, and China's military is vast.

Its military modernization is extraordinary.

And that in the end, this is what your critics would say, is Taiwan cannot hope by itself to deter China militarily.

Of course that makes some sense, but the cost of taking over Taiwan is going to be enormous.

And Chinese leadership have to make a good calculation as to whether they are prepared to pay the cost.

But what we need to do is to increase the cost of an invasion.

So strengthening our military capability is one, and working with our friends in the region to form a collective deterrence is another.

I suppose, again, just playing devil's advocate here, your critics would say, well, that's all very well, but Taiwan has very few formal diplomatic allies.

It doesn't have any formal military alliances.

And that during the last eight years, particularly the last four years, the situation around Taiwan has actually become objectively more threatening.

Of course, we cannot exclude any possibility at the moment, including a possible military conflict and invasion from China.

But the thing is, with the collective efforts of the parties concerned in the region,

China actually feels the pressure, because it's not only military, it's a concern.

They have to be aware of the fact that a war may cost their economic development.

And the economic consequences is such that it may probably delay the development of China for years, even for decades.

So if you are a leader of China, what is more important, taking over Taiwan or your continuing growth economically and socially?

Absolutely crucial to Tsai's strategy of deterring China is support from America.

For decades, the United States has kept China guessing as to whether they would or would not defend Taiwan if Beijing attacked.

But following the Russian invasion of Ukraine,

President Joe Biden has broken with that tradition, saying repeatedly he would send US troops to defend Taiwan.

Are you willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan if it comes to that?

We signed onto it, and all the attendant agreements made from there.

But the idea that it could be taken by force, just taken by force, is just not—is just not appropriate. It would dislocate the entire region and be another action similar to what happened in Ukraine.

President Biden has been extremely supportive of Taiwan.

When asked about whether he would intervene if Taiwan were attacked, he has repeatedly said yes.

His critics have said that that is moving America too far away from this idea of strategic ambiguity, and that actually that makes the situation for Taiwan more dangerous.

I think the US administration has been very careful in delivering the messages they want to deliver to the public.

So as far as I am concerned, the way I read it is that the ambiguity is still there.

The Chinese government sees things very differently.

When the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, landed in Taipei in August 2022 to show her support for Tsai's government,

In China's view, the United States had crossed a line.

Probably the most high-profile American visit during your presidency was that of the US House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi.

For the first time, China fired ballistic missiles over the top of Taiwan into the Pacific Ocean.

So I wonder, from your point of view, what are the benefits of these sort of very high-profile visits?

And we need people to come and express their concerns for us.

So for any president, you just can't say no to a visit like the Speaker Pelosi's.

But the thing is that, of course, there are risks associated with it.

So there are a lot of communications and diplomacies, the detail of which I cannot tell you.

But there are a lot of work behind the scenes to make less of an impact on the cross-strait situation.

How important is victory on the battlefield for Ukraine and continued Western support for Ukraine in terms of how it affects Taiwan?

Many people suggest that Taiwan is a much more important case than Ukraine, because we are indispensable in terms of global supply chain.

And our geographic location represents a great deal in terms of strategic values to the region as a whole.

So there are arguments that perhaps the U.S. should shift their support and resources from Ukraine to Taiwan.

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BBC專訪：蔡英文即將卸任回顧執政八年成就及挑戰－ BBC News 中文

sort

potential

eventually

commitment

BBC專訪：蔡英文即將卸任 回顧執政八年成就及挑戰 － BBC News 中文

sort

potential

eventually

commitment

BBC專訪：蔡英文即將卸任回顧執政八年成就及挑戰－ BBC News 中文