Taiwan’s President William Lai Ching-te, has in a veiled reference to China over its claim on the island, stated that his mission as the country’s leader is to ensure that that the “nation’s sovereignty must not be violated or annexed.”
Pledging to uphold Taiwan’s self-governing status, Lai in his address on Thursday in Taipei on the commemoration of Taiwan’s National Day said, “The Republic of China (Taiwan’s official name) — which took root in Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu — and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other”, Central News Agency Taiwan reported.
In his first National Day speech since taking office in May, the Taiwanese President Lai said, “The People’s Republic of China (China’s official name) has no right to represent Taiwan.”
He said that his “mission” as president was to “ensure that our nation endures and progresses” and “resist annexation or encroachment upon our sovereignty,” the Taiwanese media outlet reported.
China claims the self-ruled democracy as its own and has not ruled out the use of force to achieve its goal of unification.
Lai further promised to maintain “the status quo of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait” and pledged to cooperate with Beijing on addressing issues of mutual interest such as climate change, combating infectious diseases and maintaining regional security.
Earlier on October 5 in a talk on the National Day event, Lai said it was “absolutely impossible” for China to be the “motherland” of Taiwan because the island’s government was founded in 1911, much before China’s 1949 communist regime.
He was cited by CNA Taiwan as saying that “Republic of China could be the motherland of citizens of People’s Republic of China who are over 75 years old.”
Further, the Taiwanese president called on China to “live up to the expectations of the international community” by applying its influence and working with other countries toward ending Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and conflicts in West Asia.
Lai, whose Democratic Progressive Party won a third consecutive presidential term in january this year also called for unity among Taiwanese across party lines.
“Our nation must become more united, and our society must grow more stable,” he said as cited by Focus Taiwan.
The October 10 celebrations of the National Day ceremony was held in front of the Taiwan Presidential Office and saw attendance by hundreds of guests from Taiwan and overseas, including around 183 foreign dignitaries.
