Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen warned of “catastrophic consequences” if the island were to fall to China and vowed to “do whatever it takes” to guard against threats in an article published on Tuesday. Taiwan lives under the constant threat of invasion by China, which views the self-ruled democratic island as its territory to be retaken one day, by force if necessary.

Tsai warned a failure to defend Taiwan would be “catastrophic” for both the island and the wider region in an article she wrote for Foreign Affairs published on Tuesday.

“They should remember that if Taiwan were to fall, the consequences would be catastrophic for regional peace and the democratic alliance system,” Tsai said.

“It would signal that in today’s global contest of values, authoritarianism has the upper hand over democracy.” Taiwan hopes for peaceful coexistence with China, she said, but “if its democracy and way of life are threatened, Taiwan will do whatever it takes to defend itself”.

Tsai’s government on Monday urged Beijing to stop “irresponsible provocative actions” after a record 56 Chinese jets including nuclear-capable bombers crossed into Taiwan’s air defence identification zone. Taiwan has reported 148 Chinese air force planes in the southern and southwestern part of its air defence zone over a four day period beginning on Friday, the same day China marked a key patriotic holiday, National Day.

“Amid almost daily intrusions by the People’s Liberation Army, our position on cross-strait relations remains constant: Taiwan will not bend to pressure,” Tsai added.

Premier Su Tseng-chang said in Taipei that, “Taiwan must be on alert. China is more and more over the top,” adding that “The world has also seen China’s repeated violations of regional peace and pressure on Taiwan.”

Its defence ministry said Taiwan’s extra military spending of T$240 billion ($8.6 billion) over the next five years will go mostly towards naval weapons, including missiles and warships, warning that the threat from China was worse than ever.