Taiwan’s President Lai says Beijing ‘has no right’ to represent Taipei

Since becoming president in May, Lai has consistently pushed the envelope in his remarks about Taiwan’s status, resulting in fiery denunciations from Beijing. But his Thursday speech also included offers to work together with China.

Analysts are watching closely to see whether China will launch military drills around Taiwan in coming days, like it has during other sensitive political moments. The White House said Wednesday that there was “no justification” for Beijing taking such action.

In Thursday’s speech — which came during a ceremony that included performances from a military marching band and cheerleaders, as well as a jet and helicopter flyover — Lai also called on China to make positive contributions to global peace.

“For a long time now, countries around the world have supported China, invested in China and assisted China in joining the World Trade Organization. … This was done out of the hope that China would join the rest of the world in making global contributions,” he said.

“As we stand here today, international tensions are on the rise,” Lai said, adding that he hoped China would use its influence to end conflict in Ukraine and the Middle East.

He contrasted China’s behavior with Taiwan’s. “In an era when the international landscape is becoming increasingly chaotic, Taiwan will become more calm, more confident and stronger,” he said.

Lai also said he was willing to work with China on climate change, infectious diseases and “maintaining regional security to pursue peace and mutual prosperity for the well-being of the people on the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.”

Beijing sees Taiwan, a democratically governed island of 23 million people, as a renegade province, even though the Chinese Communist Party has never ruled Taiwan. It also views Lai as a dangerous “separatist” and has said he is a “troublemaker through and through.”

Lai has become increasingly assertive with his language. Over the weekend, he stated in a speech that it would be “impossible” for the People’s Republic of China to become Taiwan’s motherland, because the island’s government is actually older.

In a statement on Tuesday, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said Lai’s comments on Saturday were “old wine in a new bottle” and slammed Lai as having “sinister intentions to escalate hostility and confrontation.”

Last month, Lai suggested that if China believes it has a claim to Taiwan, it should also be taking back territory given to Russia in the 19th century.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has made bringing Taiwan under China’s control an important part of his legacy and has threatened to take it over by force if necessary.

In recent years, tensions have risen sharply across the Taiwan Strait and China has unleashed increasingly aggressive shows of force against the island. Xi has underscored his willingness to use force to achieve that goal by sending rising numbers of warplanes and navy ships to probe the island’s defenses.

Even the concept of a Taiwanese national day is anathema to Beijing. The day, known as “Double Ten,” marks the overthrow of the last Chinese imperial dynasty in 1911, which led to the establishment of the Republic of China, led by the Kuomintang. In 1949, the Chinese Communist Party defeated KMT forces, which retreated to the island of Taiwan, still formally called the Republic of China.

Beijing’s reaction to Lai’s latest speech may not be limited to rhetoric, however. Analysts are watching closely to see whether China will use this a trigger for more military drills.

After Lai was inaugurated this spring, securing a third term for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which rejects closer ties to Beijing, the Chinese military commenced “punishment” exercises around the island. These large-scale military drills, which were called “Joint Sword-2024A,” involved a barrage of dozens of Chinese warplanes and several navy destroyers.

Taiwanese and American officials have voiced concerns that Beijing will launch the next phase of “Joint Sword-2024B” exercises in response to the speech.

On Thursday morning, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said it had detected 27 Chinese jets, including some which crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait, and five Chinese ships around Taiwan since Wednesday.

The Biden administration is prepared to see Chinese military drills following Lai’s speech this week, a senior administration official told reporters Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity.

“Beijing is increasingly using normal political events like the inauguration as pretext for military pressure,” the official said. “We see no justification for a routine annual celebration to be used in this manner and coercive actions like this against Taiwan and in the cross-strait context, in our view, undermine cross-strait peace and stability.”

The U.S., along with most of the international community, does not recognize Taiwan as an independent nation. Instead, the U.S. adheres to a one-China policy, which recognizes the mainland Chinese government as the sole legitimate government of China without explicitly endorsing China’s claims over Taiwan.

But as U.S.-China tensions have escalated since the start of the Trump administration in 2016, Washington has bolstered its support for Taiwan. The U.S. sells arms to Taiwan to help it defend itself, but it has never committed to come to Taiwan’s defense in the case of a Chinese invasion, in a long-standing policy known as “strategic ambiguity.”

At the same time, high-profile U.S. politicians like Nancy Pelosi, the former House speaker, have made controversial visits to Taiwan in recent years.

In May this year, a bipartisan delegation of U.S. lawmakers, led by Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Tex.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, visited Lai soon after his inauguration to show support for Taiwan. At the time, China told the lawmakers to “stop supporting and indulging ‘Taiwan independence’ secessionist forces.”

The KMT, which is more friendly to Beijing and was in power until 2016, has loudly criticized Lai’s comments about the cross-strait relationship. Ma Ying-jeou, the former president and KMT politician, announced he would not attend the official National Day celebrations.

Eric Chu, the chairman of the KMT, said in a National Day speech: “The path of Taiwan independence is not viable; It will lead to difficulties for Taiwan and is opposed by the international community. Therefore, I urge the DPP and President Lai Ching-te to go beyond the narrow ideology of Taiwan independence.” Lai does not promote formal independence for Taiwan.

Vic Chiang contributed reporting from Taipei, and Cate Cadell from Washington.