This article was originally published by Radio Free Asia and is reprinted with permission.
Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te on Thursday vowed to resist any attempt by China to annex his country and to defend its democratic and diverse way of life, as Beijing stepped up military exercises around the island.
In an Oct. 10 National Day speech marking the 113th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of China by the nationalist Kuomintang under Sun Yat-sen, Lai said his government, which fled to the island after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong’s communists on the Chinese mainland in 1949, would continue to defend the islands of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu.
“My mission is to ensure that our nation endures and progresses, and to unite the 23 million people of Taiwan,” Lai said. “I will also uphold the commitment to resist annexation or encroachment upon our sovereignty.”
While Taiwan has never been ruled by Beijing, nor formed part of the People’s Republic of China, China still considers it a Chinese province, and the People’s Liberation Army stages frequent military exercises around the islands governed by the Republic of China, Taiwan’s formal name.
“Our determination … to protect our free and democratic way of life remains unchanged,” Lai said.
China, which has threatened the death penalty for supporters of Taiwan independence, meanwhile launched a slew of military exercises timed to coincide with Taiwan’s National Day celebrations under the code-name Joint Sword-2024B.
Taiwan’s defense ministry said it had detected 27 People’s Liberation Army aircraft, 15 of which crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait, nine Chinese military vessels and five other vessels in the Taiwan Strait between 6 a.m. on Wednesday and 6 a.m. on Thursday.
Name-checking international champion drag queen Nymphia Wind and Olympic boxing gold medalist Lin Yu-ting, among other homegrown talent, Lai said: “The people of Taiwan are diverse, and they are fearless.”
‘Our national sovereignty’
Lai’s speech came days after he hit back at the idea that China was Taiwan’s “motherland,” saying the 1911 Republic of China that rules the island is 113 years old, and could instead be seen as the “motherland” of the 75-year-old People’s Republic of China.
His comments were responding to a growing tendency among Taiwanese artists and celebrities dependent on the Chinese market to toe Beijing’s line on cross-straits relations, and congratulate China on its Oct. 1 National Day on social media, referring to it as “the motherland.”
On Thursday, he called on Beijing to work with Taiwan as an equal partner.
“Our determination to defend our national sovereignty remains unchanged,” Lai said. “Our commitment to hoping for parity and dignity, and healthy and orderly dialogue and exchanges between the two sides of the strait remains unchanged.”
A recent public opinion poll from the Institute for National Defense and Security Research showed that 67.8% of respondents were willing to fight to defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion.
However, only 47.5% were confident in the island’s defense capabilities, while more than 70% said they expected military assistance from the United States, according to the poll, which interviewed more than 1,200 adults with a margin of error of 2.81%.
Beijing hit out at Lai’s speech, accusing him of “heightening tensions in the Taiwan Strait for his selfish political interest.”
“Taiwan is an inalienable part of Chinese territory,” foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a regular news conference in Beijing. “The government of the People’s Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China.”
“China will and must achieve reunification,” she said, adding that China would continue to oppose diplomatic ties between Taiwan and the rest of the world.
Opposition Kuomintang lawmaker Han Kuo-yu, speaker of the Legislative Yuan, said on Thursday: “The Republic of China is our country; beautiful Taiwan is our home; Chinese culture is our root; democracy and freedom are our treasures.”
Han, whose Kuomintang is generally in favor of closer ties with China, said it was important to “let the world know that the Republic of China exists,” whether via globally dominant chip-maker TSMC, Olympic athletes or other forms of international cooperation.
Taiwan has been excluded from formal diplomatic ties with all but a handful of countries, and representatives of its remaining diplomatic partners Palau, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Belize and Tuvalu were present at Thursday’s celebrations.
But former Kuomintang President Ma Ying-jeou, whose recent trips to China have been criticized for undermining the ruling Democratic Progressive Party government, changed his mind at the last minute and decided not to attend, citing Lai’s comments about China as “motherland.”
“Today I decided not to attend because Lai Ching-te … is pursuing independence for Taiwan,” Ma said in a Facebook post on Thursday, accusing Lai of putting Taiwan in danger with his comments.
“He has become a troublemaker!” Ma wrote.
Former presidential hopeful Ko Wen-je, who leads the opposition Taiwan People’s Party, was invited to the National Day event but unable to attend, as he is in custody pending investigation for corruption during his tenure as mayor of Taipei from 2014 to 2022. Ko has denied the allegations.
