China threatens Taiwan’s new president with ‘retaliation’ after inauguration speech

Beijing is rumbling the day after the inauguration of Taiwan’s new president. Taiwanese separatists “will be pilloried of shame for history”, declared Tuesday, May 21, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in a press release. Qualified for “dangerous separatist” by Beijing, Lai Ching-te, who was sworn in on Monday, promised in his inauguration speech to defend democracy in the face of Chinese threats and called on China to “stop its political and military intimidation”.

This speech was defined as a “confession of independence” by China, which threatened the new head of state with “reprisals”. “Lai Ching-te’s betrayal of his nation and his ancestors is shameful”added the head of Chinese diplomacy during a meeting of foreign ministers from the countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. “But whatever they do, they will not be able to prevent China from finally achieving complete reunification”Wang Yi continued.

“I would like to emphasize that no matter what [Lai Ching-te] said or how he says it, it will not change the status and the fact that Taiwan is part of China”argued for his part the spokesperson for the Chinese Taiwan Affairs Office, Chen Binhua.

Taiwan has been self-governing since 1949, when nationalists took refuge on the island after their defeat by communist forces in the Chinese civil war on the mainland. Beijing has since considered the democratically governed island to be part of its territory and has not ruled out, particularly in recent months, the use of force to place it under its control.