CHINA ANGERED
Responding to the speech, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said that “seeking independence by force” would only drag Taiwan into conflict.
“He peddles the separatist fallacy of Taiwan independence,” Guo told reporters in Beijing. “This once again exposes his stubborn nature as a troublemaker, creator of danger and a war-maker.”
China, which held war games around the island in response to his speech last year, says Lai is a “separatist” and has rebuffed his offers of talks.
Lai added that China should renounce the use of force or coercion to change the status quo across the Taiwan Strait, and that Taiwan will work to ensure peace and stability.
“Looking back at World War II, we see that so many experienced the suffering of war and the pain of invasion. We should learn from these lessons and ensure that the tragedies of history are never repeated,” Lai said.
A US administration official said that the United States welcomed Lai’s commitment to increase defence spending and comments on ensuring peace and stability.
“We’re not going to speculate on how Beijing might react. But our general policy is that we don’t think routine speeches should be used as a pretext for taking any sort of coercive or military action,” the official said.
Taiwan’s National Day is held on the anniversary of a 1911 uprising that led to the overthrow of China’s last imperial dynasty and the establishment of the Republic of China.
The Republican government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong’s communists, and the Republic of China remains the island’s formal name.
Read the full article here
