President Lai Ching-te will deliver a speech at the National Day celebrations on October 10, 2026.
President Lai Ching-te will deliver a speech at the National Day celebrations on October 10, 2026, emphasizing that Taiwan will continue to uphold freedom and strengthen self-defense, and calling on Indo-Pacific democratic partners to jointly safeguard peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.

TAIPEI — President Lai Ching-te said Saturday in his National Day address that Taiwan cherishes peace but will not give up its freedom. He stressed that strengthening the nation's self-defense capabilities was not provocative, but necessary to maintain regional stability and ensure that cross-strait dialogue could take place on the basis of equality and dignity.

According to Reuters, Lai said at a National Day ceremony outside the Presidential Office that Taiwan was willing to engage with the world but would not accept being placed in a subordinate position. He also said the people of Taiwan should have the right to decide their own future.

Lai said Taiwan would continue to improve its defense capabilities in response to authoritarian expansion and regional security challenges. He stressed that the purpose of increasing defense spending was to deter war, not create conflict. Strengthening self-defense, he added, did not mean abandoning dialogue, but rather ensuring that dialogue could be conducted on an equal and dignified footing.

China subsequently criticized the speech. China's Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council said Lai's remarks “disregarded the facts and distorted the truth,” while reiterating Beijing's position that Taiwan is part of China's territory. Taiwan's government has consistently rejected Beijing's sovereignty claims over Taiwan.

A senior US government official said Washington welcomed Lai's commitment to maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, adding that a routine speech should not be used as a reason to take coercive or escalatory action.

Lai also called on democratic partners in the Indo-Pacific to strengthen cooperation and work together to safeguard regional peace and stability. The speech highlighted two major challenges facing Taiwan: continuing to strengthen national defense and security resilience while maintaining cooperation with the international community and reducing the risk of conflict across the Taiwan Strait.

Taiwan's National Day is observed annually on Oct. 10 to commemorate the Wuchang Uprising in 1911, which led to the overthrow of the Qing dynasty. Taiwan Strait security, cross-strait relations and US-China interactions remain important factors shaping the regional situation.