Taiwan President vows against ‘annexation’

President William Lai pledged to maintain Taiwan’s autonomous status in his highest-level public address since taking office earlier this year.

In a veiled reference to China’s claim to the island, Lai said he would “remain committed to resisting annexation or infringement of our sovereignty”.

At the same time, Lai promised to maintain “the status quo of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait” and pledged to cooperate with Beijing on issues such as climate change, fighting infectious diseases and maintaining security. area security.

Responding to Lai’s speech, a spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it “exposed his uncompromising stance” on Taiwan independence.

Lai was speaking to a crowd in Taipei to celebrate Taiwan’s National Day, just nine days after Communist China celebrated its 75th anniversary.

“The Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China are not interdependent,” he said, referring to the governments of Taipei and Beijing.

He added: “In this land, democracy and freedom are growing strongly. The People’s Republic of China has no right to represent Taiwan.”

Lai previously told visitors there would be “no surprises” in his National Day speech, trying to reassure them that he would do nothing more to provoke Beijing.

The disclaimer comes after a number of speeches by Chairman Lai over the past few months that some have deemed provocative.

“The speech was much gentler and less harsh than recent ones,” Lev Nachman, a political scientist at National Taiwan University, told the BBC, referring to Thursday’s speech. This is his.” “It gives China less ammunition to use against him.”

“However,” he added, “Beijing will still find many reasons to hate this speech.”

Mr. Nachman said he expected a strong response from Beijing in the form of holding more military exercises in the next few days.

Calling him “intransigent” on the issue of independence, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman criticized Lai’s speech and “sinister intention to escalate tensions in the Taiwan Strait to seek seek political gain”.

“No matter what the Lai Ching-te Administration says or does, it cannot change the objective fact that both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to the same China, nor can it stop the historical trend. offered by China. will definitely be unified, and will eventually be unified,” Mao Ning told reporters on Thursday, using Lai’s Chinese name.

Last week, Lai said it was “absolutely impossible” for China to be Taiwan’s “homeland” because the island’s government was established in 1911, decades before China’s current Communist regime The mainland was established in 1949.

“On the contrary, the Republic of China can actually be the homeland of People’s Republic of China citizens over 75 years old,” Lai said at a concert commemorating Taiwan’s National Day on Saturday.

Taiwan maintains the constitution of the Republic of China, established on the Chinese mainland. When it lost a long civil war with the Communists in 1949, the Republic of China government fled to Taiwan and has been based there ever since.

Last month, Lai also questioned China’s assertion that its claim to the self-governing island was based on territorial integrity. He said that if that were the case, Beijing would also make efforts to reclaim other so-called historical lands that once belonged to the Chinese empire.

“If China wants to annex Taiwan… it is not for territorial integrity,” Mr. Lai said in an interview marking his first 100 days in office.

“If it’s really about territorial integrity, why doesn’t China take back Russia?”

Lai referred to the 1858 Treaty of Aigun, in which China ceded much of Manchuria to Russia. The concession came during what China calls the “century of humiliation,” when Western powers and Japan took advantage of the weakening Qing dynasty.

On Wednesday, the Chinese government responded by saying that President Lai was escalating tensions with “sinister intentions”.

A statement from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said: “Lai Ching-te’s fallacy of Taiwan independence is just old wine in a new bottle, and once again exposes his bigoted stance on Taiwan’s independence as well as his sinister intention to escalate hostility and confrontation.”

After January’s election, Lai succeeded former Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen, who also belonged to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

Lai’s public comments have so far been seen by many political observers as going further than anything said by his predecessor, who was much more cautious in his public speeches.

However, despite the administration’s more confrontational tone, Mr. Lai still emphasized his position of maintaining the “status quo” between Taiwan and China.

He affirmed that Taiwan does not need to declare independence because it is already an independent sovereign country and has never been controlled by the People’s Republic of China.

Lai also devoted much of Thursday’s speech to domestic issues such as energy, climate change and housing.