The Taiwan president, Lai Ching-te, said there was no room for compromise on national security, and he was committed to boosting Taiwan's defences in conjunction with US support. This is not an ideological struggle, nor a unification vs independence' debate, but a struggle to defend democratic Taiwan' and refuse to submit to being China's Taiwan'. Lai and defence minister, Wellington Koo, announced the spending bump an increase of at least $8bn on what had previously been flagged on Wednesday after a briefing from the national security council.