News Snapshot:
Under growing military pressure from China, Taiwan plans to increase its defense spending by 13.9 percent next year. According to the budget draft presented by the government in Taipei on Thursday, the military budget is to rise to 586 billion Taiwan dollars, the equivalent of 19 billion euros. This corresponds to 2.4 percent of the economic output of the democratic island republic. The Taiwanese Ministry of Defense justified the increase with the significant expansion of the Chinese People's Liberation Army's military activities with aircraft and ships near Taiwan. Tensions between China and Taiwan reached a high point this month when...
