China’s government described the candidate for Taiwan’s next president as “confrontational” and a destroyer of peace after his declaration that the island’s sovereignty and independence belong to its people.
China paid particular attention to current Vice President Lai Ching-te, the presidential candidate of Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Party, saying Lai had “exposed his true face as a stubborn ‘worker for Taiwan independence’ and destroyer of peace across the Taiwan Strait.”
According to Chen Binhua, since 2016, the DPP-led government has been promoting separatism and is a “criminal mastermind” preventing cross-Strait exchanges and harming the interests of the people of Taiwan.
As the leading figure of the DPP authorities and current DPP chairman, Lai Ching-te cannot escape his responsibility for this, Chen Binhua said.
Tsai and Lai have repeatedly offered talks with China but have been refused.
The DPP maintains that only the people of Taiwan can decide their future, as does Lai’s main election opponent, Hou Yu-ih of Taiwan’s largest opposition Kuomintang (KMT), who has traditionally favoured close ties with China but has strongly denied his commitment to Beijing.
The 13 January presidential and parliamentary elections come at a time of strained relations between Beijing and Taipei. China is mounting military pressure to reassert its claims to sovereignty over Taiwan.
