Taiwan is confident in the stable development of its ties with the US but hopes there are no "surprises" on Taiwan-related issues when US President Donald Trump visits China this week, Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung said on Monday.
Trump will be in Beijing from Wednesday to Friday for a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping where the issue of democratically governed Taiwan, which China views as its territory, is certain to come up.
China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control, and last month China's foreign minister said Taiwan was the "biggest risk" in China-US relations. Taiwan's government rejects China's sovereignty claims.
The US is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself, and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last week there needed to be stability across the Taiwan Strait.
Speaking to reporters at parliament in Taipei, Lin said the government was closely monitoring the upcoming Trump-Xi meeting.
"We have also maintained continuous communication with the United States - whether through public statements from the US government or through non-public channels. We are confident in the stable development of Taiwan-US relations," he said.
"The US government has repeatedly expressed that its Taiwan policy will not change," Lin added.
Taking questions from lawmakers later, he said the US was clear on the issues it wanted discussed, like trade and fentanyl, but China kept raising the Taiwan issue.
"Of course we hope that the Trump-Xi summit does not produce any surprises regarding Taiwan-related issues," Lin said.
Defense spending stalled
The US has pushed Taiwan, along with its major allies around the world, to spend more on their defence.
But last week, Taiwan's opposition-controlled parliament passed a smaller special defence budget than the government had requested, and removed clauses for spending on domestically developed systems like surface-to-air missiles and drones.
A senior US official said on Sunday that the US was disappointed by parliament approving defence spending short of what Washington believed was needed.
Lin said he hoped parliament could take "remedial" action so that the defence budget could support Taiwan's security policy, as maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait was a common goal shared by Taiwan and like-minded nations.
"However, peace depends on strength - it requires demonstrating the defence capability for self-defence in order to deter aggression," he said.
Speaking at a separate event in Taipei, Premier Cho Jung-tai said the government would "certainly take action" to restore the trust of the international community in Taiwan's defence policy.
"Having it fragmented in this way is a serious blow to defence and security," he said.
China has continued its regular military activities around Taiwan in the run-up to Trump's China trip, including holding another "joint combat readiness patrol" last week.
On Saturday, China's defence ministry said such operations were "entirely justified and reasonable".
"'Taiwan independence' is the root cause destabilising peace in the Taiwan Strait, and we will absolutely not tolerate or condone it," said ministry spokesperson Jiang Bin.
Taiwan says it drove away Chinese research ship
Taiwan's coast guard said on Monday that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the island and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities.
The coast guard said that last Thursday it detected the Chinese ship the "Tongji", which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan though just outside restricted waters.
The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast guard sent its own ship in, it said in a statement.
The Taiwanese ship moved in close to create wake interference, and broadcast messages to "forcefully expel the vessel, prohibiting it from conducting related activities".
The "Tongji" then retrieved its survey instruments and altered course, departing from Taiwan's waters, the coast guard said.
China's Taiwan Affairs Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Taiwan's coast guard said it continued to shadow the Chinese ship until Monday, when it proceeded away from waters close to the island.
"Chinese research vessels, in disregard of international law, have attempted to conduct illegal survey activities in our waters," it said, calling on China to stop such practices.
Chinese state media says the "Tongji" has all-weather operational capability and can carry remotely operated vehicles, laboratories and unmanned systems.
It can be used for marine geology, oceanography, marine chemistry and marine biology research, and is capable of performing offshore engineering operations such as pipeline laying, Chinese media have reported.
As well as regular Chinese military activities around Taiwan, which views the island as its own territory, Taiwan has also complained that China regularly sends ostensibly civilian ships into its waters as part of "grey zone" harassment designed to pressure Taipei and exhaust its forces.