Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said on Thursday China has deepened its influence campaigns and infiltration against the democratic island, pledging measures to tackle Beijing's efforts to "absorb" Taiwan.

Taiwanese President William Lai Ching-te says tougher measures are needed to counter stepped-up Chinese infiltration, spying and other efforts to weaken the island’s defenses.

Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te on Thursday vowed to bolster the country's national security in response, including reinstatement of the military trials, to what he described as the "unchanged" annexation ambitions of the "hostile foreign force" China,