The Daily Populous Wednesday November 26th, 2025 evening edition
Authored by news.sky.com and submitted by charliehu1226

Taiwan will prepare itself for combat within the next two years amid "intensifying" threats from China, the nation's president has declared.

Lai Ching-te held a news conference on Wednesday morning amid a ramping up of military and political pressure by Beijing, which views the democratically-governed island as its own territory.

Speaking after announcing plans to boost defence spending with a "special" $40bn (£30.6bn) budget, Mr Lai said Xi Jinping's regime was "speeding up military preparations to take Taiwan by force".

Image: Taiwan's first battalion of M1A2T Abrams tanks and (below) sea mines being loaded at a military base. Pics: Reuters

It comes after Mr Xi used a phone call with Donald Trump to describe Taiwan's return to mainland China as "an integral part of the post-war international order".

Taiwan has rejected that assertion, and the prospect of becoming part of China.

China has offered Taiwan a "one country, two systems" model, but this position is not supported by any mainstream political party.

That model is the principle under which Hong Kong has been governed by Beijing, but recent years have seen an increasing erosion of civil liberties there.

Such an arrangement is not supported by any mainstream political party in Taiwan.

Image: Taiwan President Lai Ching-te. Pic: Reuters

Mr Lai said the government will work to counter any attempts at "repression" by China, and achieve a "high level of combat preparedness" by 2027.

The supplementary defence budget will be spent on equipment including missiles and drones, as well as investment in artificial intelligence, with greater cooperation with the US.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 1:58 Does Trump care about Taiwan?

The US has not taken a side when it comes to Taiwan's sovereignty, but is opposed to any use of force to seize the territory. However, the Trump administration has also been ambiguous over whether it would deploy troops if any war broke out in the Taiwan Strait.

Washington has been pressuring Taiwan to increase its own defence spending, much as it has its allies in Europe.

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Mr Lai - who described relations with the US as "rock solid" - warned any attempt at compromise in the face of aggression "will only bring war".

He described "the most threatening scenario" not as military action, but giving up.

nublete on November 26th, 2025 at 11:19 UTC »

So as a lot of people have mentioned it had been repeatedly reported that China is looking st 2027 but i have often thought why telegram the invasion date? Wouldnt it be advantageous to attack before or after that date?

magpie_bird on November 26th, 2025 at 10:28 UTC »

When I saw the headline I thought "I bet that gets reported every year", and went looking so I could post a bunch of links. Anyway, what I discovered was that it does get posted most years, but from about 2022 everyone has been saying "by 2027", which coincides with the 100th anniversary of the People's Liberation Army. Getting kind of sick of living through once-in-a-lifetime events so it would be neat if this didn't happen thanks

mbreaddit on November 26th, 2025 at 10:17 UTC »

Great, after corona, Russia/Ukraine, trump, tariffs, AI job market and increasing cost, we need more! Let's collect more problems!

AFAIK the best for amphibious attacks is around April or October due to the weather and the roughness of the water. Does not mean they can't do other things but getting it over by air primarily is hard, they need water too.

If they start this, the world economy is fucked again and the outcome is still open.