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President Lai has adopted a more vehement tone toward China than his predecessor.
President William Lai pledged to maintain Taiwan's self-governing status in his highest-profile public speech since taking office earlier this year.
In a thinly veiled reference to China's claims to the island, Lai said it would “uphold its commitment to resist annexation or encroachment on our sovereignty.”
At the same time, Lai vowed to maintain “the status quo of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait” and cooperate with Beijing on issues including climate change, combating infectious diseases and maintaining peace. regional security.
In response to Lai's speech, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said it “revealed its uncompromising stance” on Taiwan independence.
Lai was speaking to a crowd in Taipei to commemorate 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 subordinate to each other,” he said, referring to the governments in Taipei and Beijing, respectively.
“On this land, democracy and freedom thrive. The People's Republic of China has no right to represent Taiwan,” he added.
Lai had previously told visitors there would be “no surprises” in his National Day speech, aiming to reassure them that he would do nothing else to agitate Beijing.
This disclaimer follows several speeches by President Lai in recent months, which some considered provocative.
“The speech was much gentler and less sarcastic than his recent speeches,” Lev Nachman, a political scientist at National Taiwan University, told the BBC, referring to Thursday's speech. “This gives China much less ammunition to use against him.”
“Nevertheless,” 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 more military exercises in the coming days.
Calling him “intransigent” on independence, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman criticized Lai's speech and his “sinister intention to escalate tensions across the Taiwan Strait in order to seek political gains.” .
“No matter what the Lai Ching-te administration says or does, it will not be able to change the objective fact that both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to the same China, nor will it be able to stop the historical trend that China is destined to be reunified, and eventually will be,” Mao Ning told reporters 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 founded in 1911, decades before the founding of the current communist regime from mainland China in 1949.
“On the contrary, the Republic of China may actually be the homeland of citizens of the People's Republic of China over the age of 75,” Lai said at a concert marking Taiwan's National Day on Saturday.
Taiwan maintains the constitution of the Republic of China, founded on the Chinese mainland. After losing a long civil war to the Communists in 1949, the Republic of China government fled to Taiwan and has been based there ever since.
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Lai spoke to a crowd in Taipei to commemorate Taiwan's National Day, just nine days after communist China celebrated its 75th anniversary.
Last month, Lai also questioned China's assertion that its claim to the self-governing island was based on territorial integrity. If that were the case, he suggested, Beijing would also push to reclaim other so-called historic lands that once belonged to the Chinese empire.
“If China wants to annex Taiwan… it is not for reasons of territorial integrity,” Lai said in an interview marking his first 100 days in power.
“If it’s truly for the sake of territorial integrity, why doesn’t China take back Russia?”
Lai referred to the 1858 Treaty of Aigun, which saw China grant large swaths of Manchuria to Russia. The concession took place during what China calls the “century of humiliation,” when Western powers and Japan exploited the weakened Qing dynasty.
On Wednesday, the Chinese government responded by saying President Lai was escalating tensions with “sinister intentions.”
“Lai Ching-te's mistake on Taiwan independence is just old wine in a new bottle and once again reveals his stubborn stance on Taiwan independence and his sinister intentions of escalating the “hostility and confrontation,” said the statement from China's Taiwan Affairs Office.
After her election in January, Lai succeeded former Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, also from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
Lai's public comments so far are seen by many political observers as going further than anything said by his predecessor, who was much more cautious in his public speeches.
Despite his administration's more confrontational tone, Lai has emphasized his stance of maintaining the “status quo” between Taiwan and China.
He insists that Taiwan does not need to declare independence because it is already a sovereign, independent nation that has never been controlled by the People's Republic of China.
Lai also devoted much of his Thursday speech to domestic issues such as energy, climate change and housing.
