Mainland slams Lai for hostile remarks

The Chinese mainland, on Wednesday, condemned Taiwan leader Lai Ching-te's speech marking his second anniversary in office as deceptive and confrontational, blaming his "Taiwan independence" separatist stance for escalating tensions across the Taiwan Strait.

Chen Binhua, spokesman for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, said Lai's remarks were "filled with falsehoods and deception, hostility and confrontation".

He criticized Lai for stubbornly adhering to the erroneous "Taiwan independence" stance, promoting the fallacies of so-called "sovereign independence" and "mutual nonsubordination", and hyping the "mainland threat" narrative.

Chen said Lai's comments have further escalated cross-Strait tensions and confrontation, reflecting an attempt to pursue "Taiwan independence" through military means and external support, and thereby undermining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.

He said the remarks once again confirmed Lai's role as a "peace destroyer" and "crisis creator" in the Taiwan Strait.

In his speech on Wednesday morning, Lai said Taiwan's future could not be determined by "foreign forces" and should be decided solely by its 23 million people.

He also claimed to promote dialogue and exchanges with the Chinese mainland under the principle of "equal dignity", while rejecting what he called "united front tactics" aimed at achieving "reunification under the guise of peace".

Chen dismissed such statements as "hypocritical", saying Lai continues to advocate "Taiwan independence" separatism and stir up anti-mainland sentiment. He accused Lai of attempting to mislead the public in Taiwan and deceive international opinion.

"These familiar tactics have been increasingly seen through by people in Taiwan," Chen said, adding that Lai's deceptive and provocative actions will inevitably face firm opposition from compatriots on both sides of the Strait and from the international community, and are destined to fail.

Chen added that the Taiwan question is a legacy issue of the Chinese civil war in the 1940s.

"No matter what form of elections have been held in Taiwan or who has been elected there since 1949, this cannot change Taiwan's status as part of China," he said, stressing that Taiwan's future can only be jointly decided by all Chinese people, including Taiwan compatriots.

He reaffirmed the unwavering resolve of all Chinese people to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity.

"We will never allow anyone or any force, under any pretext, to pursue separatist schemes for 'Taiwan independence'," Chen said.

In response to a media question on Lai's speech, Guo Jiakun, spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, said the true status quo across the Taiwan Strait is that both sides belong to one China.

Guo said moves by "Taiwan independence" separatist forces cannot change the fundamental nature of the Taiwan question as purely China's internal affair or undermine the international community's firm commitment to the one-China principle.

He stressed that the historical trend toward China's national reunification is unstoppable.

Although Lai did not directly mention "Taiwan independence" in his speech, Zhu Fenglian, a spokeswoman for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, said during a regular news briefing on Wednesday that the Democratic Progressive Party authorities have been playing word games to deceive people in Taiwan and the international community while refusing to recognize that both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to one China.

She said only by completely abandoning the "Taiwan independence" stance, ceasing provocations aimed at seeking "independence", and returning to the political foundation of the 1992 Consensus can the DPP authorities truly safeguard peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait as well as improve and develop cross-Strait relations.

lishangyi@chinadaily.com.cn