President Lai Ching-te asserts Taiwan's sovereignty, slams China's ‘separatist' label

Taiwan President Lai Ching-te reaffirmed Sunday that Taiwan is 'of course' a country, rejecting China's sovereignty claims as lacking legal and historical basis. Beijing continues to dismiss Lai as a separatist and has refused repeated offers for dialogue read more
Taiwan is 'of course' a country and China lacks both the historical evidence and legal proof to back up its sovereignty claims, President Lai Ching-te said on Sunday in a strong rebuke to Beijing and its stepped up political and military pressure.
China says democratically-governed Taiwan is 'sacred' Chinese territory that has belonged to the country since ancient times, and that the island is one of its provinces with no right to be called a state.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
Lai and his government strongly reject that view, and have offered talks with China multiple times but have been rejected. China calls Lai a 'separatist'.
Giving the first of 10 speeches in a series called 'uniting the country', Lai drew on Taiwan's history, including the millennia-long connection of its indigenous people to other Austronesians, like native Hawaiians, to show what he said was Taiwan's separate and distinct development from China.
Taiwan's people have a record of opposing invasion, like uprisings against Japan's 1895-1945 colonial rule, and under the last imperial Chinese dynasty, the Qing, Taiwan was only considered a Chinese province for eight years, he added.
'Of course Taiwan is a country,' he said at a speech to a Taiwan branch of Rotary International, pointing also to its presidential elections. 'But China says no, that Taiwan is not a sovereign country.'
China's Taiwan's Affairs Office did not respond to a request for comment outside of office hours. China says the 1971 United Nations resolution, which took away Taipei's seat in the body and gave it to Beijing, is one of the legal bases of its claims.
Lai, who in March called China a 'hostile foreign force', said it was 'totally wrong' for Beijing to say that U.N. resolution had anything to do with Taiwan's sovereignty as it was only about which government was represented at the body.
China's threat to Taiwan is real, added Lai, pointing to its daily military activities around the island.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
'Taiwan's future can only be decided by its 23 million people - does everyone approve of this?' he said, to a round of applause.
The defeated Republic of China government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong's communists, and that remains the island's formal name.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

India Today

an hour ago

• India Today

US strikes damage Isfahan N-site, IAEA confirms; Iran vows to rebuild rapidly

The United Nations nuclear watchdog confirmed that underground entrances to tunnels at Iran's Isfahan nuclear site were damaged in the US bombings. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) released a statement confirming the extent of damage to Iran's major nuclear sites -- Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan (Isfahan). According to IAEA chief Rafael Mariano Grossi, several parts of these facilities were hit during overnight airstrikes carried out by the United United States dropped 30,000-pound bombs on Iran's uranium enrichment sites. Meanwhile, Iran has declared that it has already started rebuilding the affected nuclear facilities and vowed to resume its nuclear work with even more strength, as per Iran's Atomic Energy had reportedly stored much of its highly enriched uranium underground at the Isfahan site. With Israel's strikes and the recent US attacks, damage to these sites has become a serious concern. IAEA CONFIRMS EXTENSIVE DAMAGE TO IRAN'S KEY NUCLEAR SITES In its official statement, the IAEA confirmed that Iran's nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan had all been affected. Director General Rafael Grossi said the Isfahan complex, which had already been hit by Israeli strikes earlier this month, suffered additional latest attacks early this morning damaged other buildings in Esfahan. In addition, we have established that entrances to underground tunnels at the site were impacted," Grossi added that some of the damaged buildings at the Esfahan site might have held nuclear the Fordow facility, built deep inside a mountain, was also targeted, the IAEA said it is difficult to determine how much internal damage occurred due to the underground location and the type of bombs used."It is clear that Fordow was also directly impacted, but the degree of damage inside the uranium enrichment halls can't be determined with certainty," Grossi Natanz facility, which had already faced extensive damage in past attacks, was also hit again with US the damage, Grossi stated that Iranian authorities had informed the agency that there had been no rise in radiation levels outside the sites."We need to try to go back to the negotiating table as soon as possible. We have to allow the IAEA inspectors to return. The IAEA is ready to play its indispensable role in this process. We have been talking to Iran, we have been talking to the United States. We have to work for peace," he SAYS NUCLEAR SITES ARE BEING REBUILT QUICKLYadvertisementIn response to the attacks, Iran's Atomic Energy Agency announced on Sunday that the damaged nuclear facilities are being rebuilt to Iranian state media, officials have promised that operations at these sites will resume soon and with greater capacity. The announcement appeared to signal Iran is not ready to back down at any cost in order to continue its nuclear programme amid international IAEA has warned that the ongoing conflict may prevent inspectors from properly verifying Iran's stockpile of more than 400 kilograms of highly enriched uranium."This would also enable the IAEA to resume its crucial verification activities in Iran, including of its stockpile of more than 400 kg of highly enriched uranium, which Agency inspectors last verified a few days before the military conflict began." Grossi InMust Watch

Economic Times

2 hours ago

• Economic Times

Numbers matter in peace or war, but more doesn't always mean merrierfertility, firepower, and what we're really multiplying

The world is ageing, so is India. But this doesn't mean that missiles are getting older. East or West, North or South, tried and tested projectiles are being used fast and furiously by the grey-haired generation so that otherworld warheads could be created to raise an archetypal sphere. It's a different matter that several such previous attempts have produced more tribulations for the orb than ever envisioned. In this context, two reports really deserve attention. While the United Nations has warned that world fertility rates are declining, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute data points to the supersonic speed with which the population of military arsenal is growing. In reality, modern warfare is becoming younger, faster, slimmer and sharper, and, in contrast, homo sapiens are turning out to be older and slower. Evidently, the armament industry is staring at no fertility crisis. As a matter of fact, this is one business that is always fired up — whether in peacetime or wartime. But, more and more weapons, for what purpose? Maybe, those engaged feel that they are doing a service to the universe by multiplying their arsenal exponentially. Amid all this, Sri Lankans are wrestling with a completely different set of ecosystems. The island nation recently released its first census of crop enemy animals — monkeys, peacocks, giant squirrels and purple faced langurs (numbering more than 13 million together). It's unclear how this data will be used by the country to take crop damage mitigation measures, but the survey has already led to some fireworks. Although the frenzy isn't as wild as ongoing in other parts of the planet, tempers are running high over shortcomings and errors in headcount. Clearly, numbers matter, but the more isn't always the merrier.

Time of India

2 hours ago

• Time of India

Numbers matter in peace or war, but more doesn't always mean merrierfertility, firepower, and what we're really multiplying

The world is ageing, so is India. But this doesn't mean that missiles are getting older. East or West, North or South, tried and tested projectiles are being used fast and furiously by the grey-haired generation so that otherworld warheads could be created to raise an archetypal sphere. It's a different matter that several such previous attempts have produced more tribulations for the orb than ever envisioned. In this context, two reports really deserve attention. While the United Nations has warned that world fertility rates are declining, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute data points to the supersonic speed with which the population of military arsenal is growing. In reality, modern warfare is becoming younger, faster, slimmer and sharper, and, in contrast, homo sapiens are turning out to be older and slower. Evidently, the armament industry is staring at no fertility crisis. As a matter of fact, this is one business that is always fired up — whether in peacetime or wartime. But, more and more weapons, for what purpose? Maybe, those engaged feel that they are doing a service to the universe by multiplying their arsenal exponentially. Amid all this, Sri Lankans are wrestling with a completely different set of ecosystems. The island nation recently released its first census of crop enemy animals — monkeys, peacocks, giant squirrels and purple faced langurs (numbering more than 13 million together). It's unclear how this data will be used by the country to take crop damage mitigation measures, but the survey has already led to some fireworks. Although the frenzy isn't as wild as ongoing in other parts of the planet, tempers are running high over shortcomings and errors in headcount. Clearly, numbers matter, but the more isn't always the merrier.