TAIPEI, March 31 (Reuters) - Taiwan should look at what happened to Hong Kong and not be naive about China's intentions, U.S. Senator Thom Tillis said on Tuesday during a visit by U.S. lawmakers to discuss stalled defence spending.
Taiwan President Lai Ching-te's proposed $40 billion in extra defence spending, which has been backed by the U.S. administration, is currently snarled in the opposition-controlled parliament.
Lai says the money is needed to bolster defences against China, which views the island as its own territory. Taiwan's opposition says that while they support defence spending in principle, they will not sign "blank cheques".
HONG KONG EXAMPLE AS A WARNING
Tillis, a Republican who is in Taiwan as part of a bipartisan U.S. Senate delegation, told reporters that all opinions should be both shared and debated, but what had happened in Hong Kong should be a warning.
The former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997 with a degree of autonomy, but China imposed a sweeping national security law on Hong Kong in 2020 that critics say has stifled freedoms. Beijing says the law was necessary to stabilise the city after months of sometimes violent unrest.
"And I think my biggest worry for Taiwan is that they underestimate the intentions of China, which I think were made very, very clear by what happened to Hong Kong. And so, yes, we would love peace, but please don't be naive," he added.
"You have a perfect example right in front of you of the intentions of China. And let's make sure what happened to Hong Kong doesn't happen here to Taiwan."
Tillis and the other senators, including Democrat Jeanne Shaheen, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, met Lai on Monday.
That same day, China announced it had invited Cheng Li-wun, the chairwoman of Taiwan's largest opposition party the Kuomintang, to visit Beijing, an invite she accepted.
Cheng says her trip, which starts next week, is a peace mission.
Taiwan's government said in a response to Cheng going that China's ambitions to "annex" the island have never changed.
"While we may have ideals about peace, we should not harbour illusions," the Mainland Affairs Council, which is in charge of Taiwan's policy towards China, said in a statement.
(Reporting by Yimou Lee; writing by Ben BlanchardEditing by Tomasz Janowski)
