AGENCIES
China warned Taiwan’s voters yesterday to make the correct choice in tomorrow’s elections, describing the presidential front-runner as a “severe danger” who would threaten peace by following the “evil path” of independence.
Vice President Lai Ching-te, the front-runner candidate for the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, has portrayed himself as a defender of Taiwan’s democracy but has drawn ire from China over comments about independence.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said if Lai “comes to power, he will further push for Taiwan independence separatist activities [and create] turbulence in the Taiwan Strait.”
It added: “[He] would continue to follow the evil path of provoking independence and … take Taiwan ever further away from peace and prosperity, and ever closer to war and decline.”
The warning comes after Washington announced its plans to send an unofficial delegation to the island after the election, a move that drew a sharp rebuke from Beijing.
Washington must “refrain from intervening in the elections … in any form, so as to avoid causing serious damage to China-US relations,” foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said.
”China always firmly opposes any form of official exchange between the US and Taiwan.”
She also condemned a US warning to Beijing against stoking tensions over the polls.
”Taiwan is the core of China’s core interests and is the number one red line that must not be transgressed,” Mao stressed.
Taiwanese foreign minister Joseph Wu criticized China’s “repeated interference” in the election.
”Beijing should stop messing with other countries’ elections and hold their own,” Wu posted on X.
Meanwhile, Lai, who had once called himself a “pragmatic worker for Taiwan’s independence,” has taken a softer line. He has chosen instead to echo current President Tsai Ing-wen’s stance that Taiwan is “already independent” and therefore does not need to formally declare it.
”Accepting China’s ‘one-China’ principle is not true peace,” he said.
Lai’s opponent Hou Yu-ih of the Kuomintang, which has long encouraged closer cooperation with Beijing, has run on maintaining peace, saying that Lai would be a danger.
However, Hou rejected the DPP’s allegation that he was “pro-China and a sell-out” of Taiwan. “Taiwan is a democratic and free country,” he said, adding that the issue of “reunification” will not be on the table if he is elected.
Rousing anti-establishment sentiments is the Taiwan People’s Party, which has emerged as an unexpected political force with leader Ko Wen-je presenting himself as a path out of the two-party deadlock.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
The post Taiwan poll favorite Lai is a threat to peace, warns Beijing appeared first on Hong Kong News Hub.
from
https://hongkongnewshk.com/taiwan-poll-favorite-lai-is-a-threat-to-peace-warns-beijing/
No comments:
Post a Comment