Taiwan risks becoming numb to China drills, but threat is real: Defence minister
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A Taiwanese soldier waving a flag during an annual military exercise in Taichung, Taiwan, on Jan 26.
PHOTO: REUTERS
- Taiwan's Defence Minister Wellington Koo warns that Taiwanese people risk becoming "numb" to China's persistent pressure tactics.
- China's military activities, including a rise of 23% in detected aircraft, aim to claim the Taiwan Strait as internal waters.
- Taiwan strengthens defence through exercises, reserve force improvements, and US weapons purchases, despite funding challenges.
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TAIPEI – Taiwanese people are at risk of becoming “numb” to China’s daily military and other pressure tactics to wear down the island, but the threat is real and greater readiness is needed, Defence Minister Wellington Koo said.
China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, has been sending its warplanes and warships into the skies and waters around the island daily.
It held its latest war games near Taiwan
Speaking to reporters this week, in comments embargoed until Feb 6, Mr Koo said that over the past year, China has used military pressure, cyberattacks and psychological warfare against Taiwan through more “complex and precise actions”.
The number of Chinese military aircraft detected, including fighters and drones, rose by 23 per cent in 2025 from a year earlier, as China tries to push the narrative that the Taiwan Strait is an “internal” Chinese waterway, he added.
“When such actions are repeated over and over, we worry that it can easily numb the public,” he said. “But, in fact, this kind of enemy threat exists urgently and realistically.”
Taiwan’s Defence Minister Wellington Koo visiting reservists in Yilan in December.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Taiwan’s government rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims, saying only its people can decide their future.
While Taiwan will neither escalate nor provoke, its military is strengthening preparedness by carrying out combat-oriented exercises, increasing the effectiveness of its reserve forces and boosting purchases of new weapons, Mr Koo said.
The ministry is also looking at how to use emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence for military purposes with its new defence innovation team, he added.
Mentioning an ongoing issue with delayed deliveries of US weapons due to supply chain and capacity problems, Mr Koo said production has “gradually returned to normal”, while the US is making the administrative process for purchases easier and quicker.
But Taiwan’s opposition, which has a majority in Parliament, has stalled President Lai Ching-te’s proposed US$40 billion (S$51 billion) in extra defence spending and instead advanced its own proposal, which is much smaller and does not fund all the US arms purchases.
Mr Koo said investing in defence is investing in peace, adding that senior military officers, including strategic planning director Huang Wen-chi, have been meeting members of the media and talking to lawmakers to explain the government’s spending plans.
“Facing today’s rapidly changing international situation and increasingly complex security environment, we firmly believe that only by helping ourselves can others help us; national security must be held in our own hands,” he said. REUTERS
