Beijing’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) — which manages relations with Taiwan — slammed President William Lai’s (賴清德) inaugural speech yesterday as sending a “dangerous signal.” China’s state news agency Xinhua reported.
TAO spokesman Chen Binhua (陳斌華) said Lai’s remarks “wantonly advocated separatism, incited cross-strait confrontation and sought independence by relying on foreign support and by force.”
He said Lai ignored Taiwan’s “mainstream public aspiration... for peace and development.”
Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo, EPA-EFE
Separately, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said Taiwan’s internal politics did not change the “fact” it was part of China, calling efforts toward its independence “dangerous” after Lai was sworn in.
Speaking in Astana, Kazakhstan, at a meeting of Shanghai Cooperation Organization foreign ministers, Wang said “Taiwan independence efforts” represented “the most serious challenge to the international order.”
They were, he said, “the most dangerous change to the status quo in the Taiwan Strait, and the most significant disruption of peace in the Taiwan Strait,” a readout of his comments from the Chinese foreign ministry said.
“There is only one China in the world, and Taiwan is part of China,” he said, which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs rebutted later yesterday.
As Lai took office, Beijing imposed sanctions on three US defense companies over their sales of weapons to Taipei.
Although the US formally recognizes Beijing, it is Taipei’s main partner and supplier of arms.
The move is the latest in a series of sanctions Beijing has announced in recent years against defense companies for weapons sales to Taiwan.
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce placed Boeing’s Defense, Space & Security unit, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems and General Dynamics Land Systems, on what is called an “unreliable entities” list, forbidding their further investment in China, in addition to travel bans on senior management of the companies.
Meanwhile, Chinese social media Sino Weibo yesterday blocked hashtags referencing Lai’s inauguration.
A hashtag saying “Taiwan 520 new authorities take office,” referring to yesterday’s date, was removed, with a notice saying that “according to relevant laws, regulations, and policies, the content of this topic has not been displayed.”
Another that said “Lai Ching-te [Lai’s Chinese name] takes office” was also taken down while hashtags featuring Lai’s name and that of outgoing Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) were unavailable.
However, search results for Lai’s name and other topics still yielded results.
Sino Weibo often blocks hashtags deemed politically sensitive to prevent them from trending on the platform, used by hundreds of millions in China.
During the presidential election in January, the platform blocked a hashtag on the poll after it became one of the site’s top-trending topics.
There has been scant mention of Lai’s inauguration in China’s state-run media.
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