Furious mainland China slams Taiwanese leader’s ‘blatant’ call for independence
- People’s Daily commentary blasts William Lai Ching-te’s inauguration speech for ‘inciting hatred against the Chinese people’
- Beijing also objects to US secretary of state’s congratulations to Lai
Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily and military outlet PLA Daily each devoted an entire page on Tuesday to responses and criticisms from various mainland officials to Lai’s speech, delivered the previous day.
In a scathing commentary, People’s Daily accused Lai of using the address to “rally around the flag of Taiwan independence” and “incite hatred against the Chinese people”.
According to the commentary, Lai was “vigorously promoting separatist fallacies, inciting confrontation and hostility across the Taiwan Strait”. The speech was “full of provocative rhetoric, peddling the ‘two-country theory’ and advocating for ‘mutual non-subordination’ between the two sides”, it said.
Several senior Beijing officials had earlier slammed Lai for sending “dangerous signals” in the speech, while state news agency Xinhua commented that “those who play with fire will burn themselves”.
05:06
William Lai sworn in as new Taiwan leader amid pledge to keep status quo across the strait
Beijing also hit out at Washington over US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s congratulations to Lai on his inauguration.