Taiwanese leader welcomes talks between Washington and Beijing ‘to reduce risk of war’
Beijing says William Lai’s Double Tenth speech was ‘stirring up confrontation’ as he accused the mainland of trying to change the status quo
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Amber Wangin Beijing
Taiwanese leader William Lai Ching-te has welcomed talks between Washington and Beijing aimed at reducing the risk of conflict.
Lai’s annual Double Tenth address on Saturday, marking the anniversary of the foundation of the Republic of China, Taiwan’s official name, also called for democracies to work together to safeguard regional peace and for the Taiwanese people’s right to exist to be respected.
He also warned that mainland China was trying to put pressure on the island to change the status quo, but Beijing accused him of “stirring up confrontation across the Taiwan Strait”.
“Lai Ching-te’s speech disregarded facts … misled the public and revealed sinister motives, constituting a performance true to form by a ‘pragmatic worker for Taiwan independence’,” said Zhang Han, a spokeswoman for the mainland’s Taiwan Affairs Office, using a label Lai had previously attached to himself.
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