Taiwan's record increase in its defense budget is due to the government's intention to boost its own military production, Taiwanese Chief of Staff Tsai Ing-wen said Tuesday during a visit to the Penghu Islands (Pescadores) Air Force Base.

"The main purpose of the current defense budget increase is to promote its own ship construction, its own aircraft construction, and to improve the quality of weapons, replenish ammunition stocks, and improve the condition of reserve troops," said Tsai Ing-wen, quoted by the administration chief's office.

Earlier it was reported that the Taiwanese government had submitted a draft defense budget for next year that would increase military spending to a record 586.3 billion Taiwan dollars ($19.4 billion).

She also noted that tensions in the Taiwan Strait are rising every day, while stressing that the more provocations come from the enemy's side, the more calm Taiwan should be.

"We won't give the other side any reason to create conflicts. We will not provoke a military clash. but that doesn't mean we can't offer resistance," she stressed.

Taiwan's chief of staff, Tsai Ing-wen, has been saying over the past few years that the island's defense capabilities and defense budget need to be increased. But even with record increases, Taiwan's defense budget is still more than 10 times smaller than that of mainland China. Thus, according to the 2022 budget, China intends to increase its military spending by 7.1 percent to 1.45 trillion yuan ($229.5 billion).

The situation around Taiwan escalated after U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently visited the island. China, which considers the island one of its provinces, condemned Pelosi's visit, seeing in this step U.S. support for Taiwan separatism, and began large-scale military exercises.