Taipei seeks more military help to counter Beijing

Joseph Wu said the island needs to be better equipped. Photo: AP

Taiwan's Foreign Minister, Joseph Wu, says the island needs more help from friendly nations to stand up to increased diplomatic and economic pressure from Beijing. In an interview, with the BBC, Wu said the world was waking up to the rising threat from Beijing.



"What we are asking for actually, is quite simple. It's for the United States to provide defence articles for Taiwan, so that Taiwan is able to defend itself, and also to engage with Taiwan in military training or military co-operation so that Taiwan is much better equipped," he said.



Wu said that what has been happening here in Hong Kong showed that being governed by Beijing does not work and would never be acceptable to people in Taiwan.



Last week the US urged Beijing not to interfere in next month's elections in Taiwan, where President Tsai Ing-wen, a critic of the central government, is seeking a new term.



David Stilwell, the top US diplomat for Asia, said that tensions between Beijing and Taipei have historically risen whenever Taiwan goes to the polls.



Stilwell said that the United States, through its policy of providing arms to the self-ruling island while recognising only Beijing, sought for differences between the two sides to be "resolved through dialogue and without violence or coercion or threats." (RTHK staff, AFP)