his criticisms highlight the inertia in the taiwanese army because it was the armed wing of the kmt, law for decades. and so therefore, it's not reinvented itself sufficiently for the modern era. so what do you say to that criticism? mm—hm. i believe you're mentioning the asymmetric defence concept. yes. i think in the cyber security domain, this is obviously the case. we need to create places where we spent as minimal resources as possible in order to counter the far more resources that the adversaries throws at us. so when i talk about, for example, mitigating the denial of service attacks following nancy pelosi's visit this august, we developed a way to tie our defence, the web two and web three defences to the international backbones that powers the nfts, the cryptocurrencies and so on. so if you take this down, then you also must take down the entire... but i'm talking about military hardware, really. that's what the admiral�*s criticisms were. yeah. i mean, president tsai hasjust announced a 40% boost in taiwan's defence spending. you face an army, a standing army of about 2 mi

his party the kmt slowly embraced democratic reforms.wan held its first direct presidential election just 26 years ago in 1996. in 2000 the kmt's 55 years of continuous rule ended defeated by former political prisoners like taiwan's first female vice president. arrested in 1979 for an impromptu speech criticizing the government. >> how long was the speech? >> 20 minutes. >> reporter: that 20-minute speech led to almost six years in prison. she survived that, plus cancer and attempted assassination to become a two-term vice president. >> but more important is that people like me who are courageous we knew we might be jailed, but we still feel that it's our obligation to fight to the last end. >> reporter: a fight many feared may not be over. amid rising tensions with china. taiwan's hard won freedom came at a heavy price. for those who never left green island, these walls a silent reminder of the hardship so many endured, a silent warning of what could lie ahead if democracy dies. will ripley, cnn, green island, taiwan. >>> still ahead, n

doing, his criticisms highlight the inertia in the taiwanese army because it was the armed wing of the kmt therefore, it is not reinvented itself sufficiently for the modern era, so what do you say to that criticism? i era, so what do you say to that criticism?— criticism? i believe you were mentioning _ criticism? i believe you were mentioning the _ criticism? i believe you were mentioning the asymmetricl mentioning the asymmetric defence concept.— mentioning the asymmetric defence concept.- i - mentioning the asymmetric defence concept. yes. i think in the cybersecurity - defence concept. yes. i think in the cybersecurity domain, this is obviously the case. we need to create places where we spent, as minimal as possible, in order to counter the far more resources that adversaries throw at us so when i talk about for example mitigating the denial of service attacks following nancy pelosi's visit is august, we developed a way to tie our defence, the web to and web three defences, the international backbones that powers the nfts, the cryptocurrencies and so on so you take this down and then

prospect of any one country, two systems for taiwan unacceptable according to the opposition party, the kmt which is traditionally pro china does not have any platform that will accept one country, two systems. they said that taiwan will never compromise on values of sovereignty, democracy and freedom. we know the national security team of taiwan is closely monitoring what is transpiring in beijing as we speak. with xi jinping's consolidation of power and his stated intent that in his generation taiwan should be reabsorbed with the mainland, it is certainly perhaps not the most pressing, urgent concern in that think they it's going to happen tomorrow, but the widely held view at some stage likely during xi jinping's rule china will make a move to bolster the military, improve the military training, enhance the self-defense capabilities preparing for that day that china decides to try to fulfill the promise that xi jinping made today. kim? >> thanks so much, will ripley. appreciate it. >>> for more on this, let's bring in james myles who's the senior writer on china for "the economist" and j

is the kmt�*s representative to the united states. a us diplomat for nearly 35 years, and is one of america's top experts on taiwan. he is now a professor at a university here in taiwan. this is a chinese dissident in exile in taiwan, and is also part of the human rights commission. this woman was born in taipei, herfamily moved from mainland china, and she is currently senior china analyst at the conflict resolution think tank the conflict resolution think tank the icg. terrific to have you all with us. that is our panel, please give them a warm round of applause. applause. you, too, can join applause. you, too, canjoin the conversation. this is ourfirst you, too, canjoin the conversation. this is our first question. you, too, canjoin the conversation. this is ourfirst question. charles, what is your question? this is our first question. charles, what is your question?— this is our first question. charles, what is your question? what you make ofthe what is your question? what you make of the fact that — what is your question? what yo

the taiwanese public and by all of the major political parties here even the traditionally pro china kmtone country two systems on their political agenda currently. they used to think that eventually there might be some sort of eventual unification with the mainland. they don't even feel that way anymore. that's how much the landscape here in taiwan has changed. but that room in beijing with all the pomp and the ceremony and the very carefully controlled scripted praise of xi jinping and his communist compatriots doesn't ring true here. people don't identify with those people as their leaders. their leaders are the ones they choose. they say they're going to continue to make choices about their fiech, and that's why taiwan continues to bolster its national defenses, continues to bolster asymmetric defenses because they know in terms of sheer size they can't compete against a mammoth military like china's, max. but this is an island. island are difficult to invade. they're trying to adjust their military strategy, learning lessons what happened in ukraine and what is still happening in uk