By Ben Blanchard and Yi-Chin Lee
KINMEN, Taiwan, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Peace can only be secured through strength and not even an inch of territory can be sacrificed, Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said on Sunday, visiting a sensitive frontline island to mark a key battle with Chinese forces almost seven decades ago.
Taiwan has controlled the Kinmen and Matsu islands, which lie just off the Chinese coast, since the Republic of China government fled to Taipei in 1949 after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong's
communists. No peace treaty or armistice has ever been signed.
In heavy rain, Lai laid a wreath and bowed at a memorial park for the 68th anniversary of the 1958 clash with Chinese forces, known as the start of the second Taiwan Strait crisis — the last time Taiwanese and Chinese forces battled on a large scale.
Addressing veterans later, Lai expressed gratitude to those who "stood united and fought a bloody battle to repel Communist totalitarian aggression".
"Our resolve to unite in defending national sovereignty and safeguarding peace across the Taiwan Strait must never waver," Lai said. "Peace has never simply fallen from the sky."
The 1958 battle proves "that peace is secured through strength," he said, adding it was necessary to maintain "the spirit of never yielding an inch" of Taiwan, Kinmen and another group of islands, while continuously boosting military spending.
China's Taiwan Affairs Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
CLOSE TO CHINA
China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has repeatedly denounced Lai as a "separatist". He rejects Beijing's sovereignty, saying only Taiwan's people can decide their future, but has also offered talks with China.
Kinmen at its closest is less than 2 km (1.2 miles) from Chinese-controlled territory. In the 1958 battle, Chinese forces began more than a month of bombardment of Kinmen, along with Matsu, including naval and air battles, seeking to force them into submission.
Taiwan fought back with support from the United States, though the crisis ended in a stalemate. Taiwan observes August 23 every year as the date it fended off the Chinese attack.
China's coast guard has since early 2024 conducted regular "law enforcement" patrols around Kinmen in Taiwan-controlled waters, to Taipei's anger.
Referring to those patrols and other Chinese tactics, Lai said that for 68 years China had not stopped its "ambitions for external expansion for even a single day", bringing "unease" across the Indo-Pacific.
Taiwan's planned defence spending next year will exceed T$1 trillion ($30 billion) for the first time, the government announced on Thursday, and Lai said he hoped for strong support for the budget.
($1 = 31.8250 Taiwan dollars)
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard and Yi-Chin Lee)
