President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) met with a visiting delegation from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) on Tuesday, including President and CEO John Hamre. Hamre said he is encouraged by Taiwan’s commitment to self-defense and expressed confidence that pending United States arms sales will move forward.

Speaking at the Presidential Office, Lai noted that April 10 marked the 47th anniversary of the Taiwan Relations Act. He thanked Washington for upholding its commitments to Taiwan under this law and the Six Assurances to Taiwan Act, and pointed to a recent U.S.-Japan leaders’ summit that reaffirmed the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.

Lai described Taiwan as being on the “front line” of the democratic world, facing daily pressure from authoritarian threats. He praised CSIS for helping draw global attention to cross-strait security through war-gaming, policy analysis, and international outreach.

CSIS President Hamre said he was encouraged by Taiwan’s commitment to self-defense, including both military investments and civil resilience measures. He cited ongoing efforts by U.S. Indo-Pacific Command Samuel Paparo and expressed confidence that pending U.S. arms sales to Taiwan would move forward.

Hamre said, “I think that Admiral Paparo, who heads the Indo-Pacific Command, is leaning forward in very important ways because he now knows we have this partner in Taiwan, and so I feel very good about what you’ve accomplished in these last two years – very good. There’s still a lot to do, we still don’t have the legislation in place to be able to pay for the arms deal, but I think that’ll come. I’m hopeful because I think the citizens of Taiwan know that it’s part of their defense, and the stronger we prepare the greater the deterrence.”

Emphasizing that “peace requires strength,” Lai said Taiwan is boosting its defense capabilities and building whole-of-society resilience. He said the government plans to raise defense spending to more than 3% of GDP this year, with a goal of reaching 5% by 2030, alongside a proposed eight-year, US$40 billion special defense budget.