Taiwan election rattles Beijing
China has warned that any steps toward Taiwan’s independence would be “harshly punished”, as it slammed the US for congratulating Lai Ching-te after the island defied Beijing’s warning and elected the pro-sovereignty candidate as president.
Voters on the island spurned Beijing’s repeated calls not to vote for Mr Lai, delivering a comfortable victory for a man China’s Communist Party sees as a dangerous separatist.
Beijing, which claims Taiwan as its territory and has never renounced force to bring it under its control, responded to Mr Lai’s victory by saying it would not change the “inevitable trend of China’s reunification”.
“If anyone on the island of Taiwan thinks of going for independence, they will be trying to split apart China’s territory, and will certainly be harshly punished by both history and the law,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said.
“No matter what the results of the election are, they cannot change the basic fact that there is only one China and Taiwan is a part of it. Taiwan has never been a country. It wasn’t in the past, and it certainly won’t be in the future.”
Mr Wang warned any effort towards Taiwan’s independence would “seriously jeopardises peace and stability”.
Beijing accused the US of sending “a gravely wrong signal” to those seeking independence when Secretary of State Antony Blinken sent Mr Lai a message of congratulations.
Beijing said the message violated Washington’s commitment to maintain only unofficial ties with Taiwan.
“We look forward to working with Dr Lai and Taiwan’s leaders of all parties to advance our shared interests and values,” Mr Blinken said.
China’s foreign ministry said the Taiwan question was “the first red line that must not be crossed in China-US relations” and said it had lodged a formal diplomatic complaint. “China firmly opposes the US having any form of official interaction with Taiwan,” it said.