Taiwan’s former president says Ukraine needs US weapons more urgently than Taipei

HALIFAX, Canada — Former Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen said Saturday that the United States should prioritize helping Ukraine despite the looming threat of a Chinese cross-strait invasion of the self-governing island.

“They should do whatever they can to help the Ukrainians,” Tsai said at the forum. “We [Taiwan] still have time.”

The comments from the former Taiwanese leader at the Halifax International Security Forum came after U.S. Indo-Pacific Command chief Adm. Samuel Paparo said Tuesday that supplying weapons to Ukraine had begun to affect the U.S. military’s ability to prepare for a conflict in Asia.

“Up to this year, where most of the employment of weapons were really artillery pieces and short-range weapons, I had said: ‘Not at all,’” Paparo said at the Brookings Institution think tank earlier this week. “But now, with some of the Patriots that have been employed, some of the air-to-air missiles that have been employed, it’s now eating into stocks.”

Tsai left office in January, ceding power to her Vice President William Lai. She also accepted an award for her leadership during the Covid-19 pandemic at the Halifax conference.

While Taiwan is heavily reliant on purchasing American weapons and receiving U.S. military aid for its defense, Tsai said that American support for Ukraine would help deter China from a cross-strait attack.

“A Ukrainian victory will serve as the most effective deterrent to future aggression” globally Tsai said.

Taiwanese officials have said that the island has boosted defense spending by 80 percent in the past eight years, hitting a record $19 billion in 2024.

But that hasn’t been enough to placate President-elect Donald Trump, who has suggested that Taiwan “should pay” and has also called for the island to boost defense spending to 10 percent of GDP. Tsai did not directly respond to whether Taipei should raise its budget to that level. “We would have some difficulty accepting an arbitrary figure,” Tsai said.

For the past year, partly in response to Trump allies who have argued that American support for Ukraine is disadvantageous to the United States in the Indo-Pacific, the Biden administration has argued that it hasn’t hampered the Pentagon’s ability to prepare for a conflict with China.

Tsai demurred on questions at the forum about whether Taiwan would make a major purchase of American weapons in the first months of the new Trump administration. Taiwan is waiting on an order of 66 new F-16V fighter jets that are expected to begin to arrive before the end of the year.

But the former Taiwanese president said she expected the United States to continue to be a major seller of weapons to the island.

“We seem to be a very sensitive buyer,” Tsai said. “Some people may have some hesitation or have to extend [the] price before they agree to sell this weaponry. The United States seems to be more generous.”