Is Trump's abrupt turn on Ukraine giving Taiwan jitters as China vows to seize the island?

On the first day of China's pomp-filled National People's Congress, the yearly agenda-setting meeting of the country's rubber-stamp legislature, Beijing announced that it would ramp up its military spending by nearly $250 billion this year, an increase of more than 7%, as it continues to modernize its armed forces. Beijing has been bolstering its military rapidly while pressing, with increasing assertiveness, territorial claims over disputed islands across the South China Sea — and its claim over the democratically governed island of Taiwan.

China considers Taiwan a renegade province and President Xi Jinping has vowed to reassert Beijing's control over the island for years, by force if necessary. But Taiwan has had vital backup for decades from its biggest international partner, the U.S., which is obligated under domestic American law to provide the island with sufficient means to defend itself from any aggressor. 

American military ships and aircraft continually ply the South China Sea's waters and skies around Taiwan, demonstrating, the U.S. military says, the right to free navigation in international space. The freedom of navigation operations have led to some tense encounters in recent years.