October 11, 2024
BEIJING – Beijing has accused Taiwan President Lai Ching-te of undermining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait after Mr Lai said in his first National Day address that China “has no right to represent Taiwan”.
On Oct 10, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) took aim at Mr Lai’s recent comments about how China cannot be the “motherland” of Taiwan, instead insisting that “China has always been the great motherland of all Chinese people”.
Beijing also sought to reframe Mr Lai’s characterisation of cross-strait ties, saying that the struggle against “Taiwan independence” is not over political systems, but “between unification and division”.
The TAO’s rebuttal came after Mr Lai’s assertive speech at Taiwan’s annual celebration on Oct 10, when he repeated a line from his inauguration speech in May, that the “Republic of China (ROC) and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) are not subordinate to each other”.
Mr Lai also said that the “People’s Republic of China has no right to represent Taiwan”, and that he will “uphold the commitment to resist annexation or encroachment upon our sovereignty”.
On Oct 5, Mr Lai had said at a concert that it was “impossible” for the PRC to become the “motherland” of the people of the ROC because the ROC is older.
He noted that the PRC celebrated its 75th anniversary on Oct 1, while the ROC would mark its 113th birthday on Oct 10.
In response, a TAO spokesman said that after 1949, with the continuation of the Chinese Civil War and “external interference”, both sides of the strait fell into “a special state of long-term political confrontation, but Taiwan has always been a part of China’s territory”.
Beijing views the self-governing island as its own, to be eventually reunified. But leaders of the ruling independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party in Taiwan insist that it is already sovereign.
On Mr Lai’s Oct 10 speech, Associate Professor Chong Ja Ian of the National University of Singapore, who studies Chinese foreign policy, said there is little Mr Lai could say that could change Beijing’s view of him.
“They will instinctively cast Lai as a troublemaker and separatist,” he told The Straits Times.
Earlier on Oct 10, at a regular press conference in Beijing, China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said the speech has “once again exposed (Mr Lai’s) stubborn ‘Taiwanese independence’ stance and a sinister intention to escalate tensions in the Taiwan Strait for his own political gain”.
Beyond the rhetoric, no military drills have been announced by China yet, although Taiwan officials have been reportedly preparing for this possibility.
In the 24 hours before Mr Lai’s speech, Taiwan’s Defence Ministry reported that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) had sent at least 27 aircraft to patrol the northern, western and south-western sides of the island.
In recent years, China has ramped up military incursions across the Taiwan Strait to pressure Taiwan, as it views any steps towards the island’s independence as a red line.
Since the PLA staged its largest drills in August 2022, in response to then US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan which infuriated Beijing, there have been at least five notable exercises.
One of them came three days after Mr Lai’s inauguration speech in May, with Chinese officials describing the encirclement exercises as “punishment” for the pursuit of Taiwan independence.
Dr Qi Dongtao, a senior research fellow from the East Asian Institute in Singapore, believes China will probably still hold military drills in response as the Oct 10 speech did not appear to be a retreat from what Mr Lai said in his May speech.
But Beijing will also be mindful about taking any drastic action that upsets the current equilibrium, with the upcoming US presidential election in November, added Dr Qi, who researches cross-strait issues.
Even as Mr Lai has been less ambiguous about cross-strait ties, analysts believe there is broad continuity in cross-strait policy with his predecessor Tsai Ing-wen, given that the vast majority of Taiwanese people prefer to maintain the status quo.
Taiwan expert Simona Grano from the University of Zurich said: “I think this was the one speech Mr Lai gave in which he was trying to continue in Tsai’s path and be more pragmatic and less confrontational towards the PRC.”
He continued in her path by stressing the fact that Taiwan is a democracy and that maintaining this way of life should be the highest priority of his administration, that is, defending it from external threats, she said.