The leader of Taiwan, the island thrust into the center of rising tensions between the United States and China, said the threat from Beijing is growing “every day,” as for the first time she confirmed the presence of American troops on Taiwanese soil.

Speaking with CNN in an exclusive interview Tuesday, President Tsai Ing-wen said Taiwan, which is located fewer than 200 kilometers (124 miles) away from China’s southeastern coast, was a “beacon” of democracy that needed to be defended to uphold faith worldwide in democratic values.

“Here is this island of 23 million people trying hard every day to protect ourselves and protect our democracy and making sure that our people have the kind of freedom they deserve,” she said.

“If we fail, then that means people that believe in these values would doubt whether these are values that they (should) be fighting for.”

Taiwan and mainland China have been separately governed since the Nationalists retreated to Taiwan at the end of the Chinese civil war more than 70 years ago. Taiwan is now a flourishing democracy but the mainland's ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) continues to view the island as an inseparable part of its territory -- despite having never controlled it.

Today, relations between Taipei and Beijing are at their lowest point in decades. Earlier this month, China’s military sent a record number of warplanes into the air around Taiwan while diplomats and state-run media warned of a possible invasion unless the island toes the CCP line.

The displays of force are partly the result of strengthening ties between Taiwan and the United States under Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Large arms sales and high profile visits by US officials have bolstered Taiwan's international standing and antagonized Beijing.

In her interview with CNN, Tsai became the first Taiwan President in decades to acknowledge the presence of US troops on the island for training purposes. The last official US garrison left in 1979, the year Washington switched formal diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing, though last year media reports hinted at small deployments.

The US military posted and then deleted a video in early 2020 that showed US Army Special Forces training soldiers in Taiwan. In November 2020, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry announced and then denied to local media that US troops were training local soldiers on the island.

Tsai wouldn't say exactly how many US military personnel are on the island at present but said it was “not as many as people thought.” “We have a wide range of cooperation with the US aiming at increasing our defense capability,” she said.

Rising China-Taiwan tensions

A former trade negotiator and law professor, Tsai became Taiwan's first female president in 2016, a historic win, which came after large student protests on the island against her Nationalist predecessor's move to form closer ties with mainland China.

When Tsai took CNN for a walk around Taipei earlier this week, hundreds of local citizens waved and called out to her, thanking her for her hard work and asking to pose for selfies.

But Tsai’s presidency has been relentlessly attacked and ridiculed from across the Taiwan Strait – since Tsai took office, relations between Beijing and Taipei have fast deteriorated.

The Chinese government believes Tsai and her party, the Democratic Progressive Party, are in favor of formal Taiwan independence, despite her public statements favoring the status quo – an arrangement by which Taiwan remains self-ruled, without an official declaration.

Economic and diplomatic ties with China, developed over previous governments, have frayed, and the Chinese military has ramped up its pressure on the island.

In the first five days of October alone, Beijing flew a total of 150 fighter jets, nuclear-capable bombers, anti-submarine aircraft and airborne early warning and control planes, into Taiwan's Air Defense Identification Zone, according to the island’s Defense Ministry.

It was a carefully executed show of force by the Chinese government – straying into areas where it would provoke a response from Taiwan but not entering the island’s airspace.

The maneuvers came after further signs of warming US-Taiwan ties, including a $750 million arms sale announced by Washington in August and a statement by the US-led Quad foreign policy group in favor of supporting the island the same month.

In a major speech on October 8, Chinese President Xi Jinping again pledged “peaceful reunification” between Taiwan and the mainland. Although he made no mention of an invasion in the speech, Xi has previously refused to rule out military action.

A spokesman for China's Taiwan Affairs Office confirmed Wednesday that Beijing reserved the right to use force to pursue “reunification”. (CNN)

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