Taiwan's president, Ma Ying-jeou, told a visiting US senator Tuesday that Taiwan will continue to seek purchases of advanced weapons from the United States to bolster national security.
Ma told visiting Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), a long-time supporter of arms sales to Taiwan, that the weapons are needed to safeguard the nation and keep the peace in the Taiwan Strait region.
In the meantime, Taiwan will also make efforts to improve relations with China and boost exchanges between the two sides to make reconciliation "the first line of defense of the Republic of China," Ma said, in apparent reference to Taiwan's struggle against China's unification attempts.
China has regarded Taiwan as part of its territory since the ROC government relocated to the island after losing the civil war on the mainland in 1949.
During the meeting, Ma also talked about the controversial territorial issue concerning the Diaoyutai islands (Diaoyu in China and Senkaku in Japan) in the East China Sea.
Read the full story at Want China Times