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Taiwan President Says China Is Younger, Can’t Be ‘Motherland’

  • Lai Ching-te said on Sunday that it was “impossible” for China to become Taiwan’s “motherland”.
  • He cited the ages of the Beijing and Taipei governments, saying China’s was much younger.
  • The statement is yet another challenge to Lai in Beijing as cross-strait tensions build.

Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te on Sunday disputed the idea that mainland China is Taiwan’s “motherland”, saying the island’s government is older than Beijing’s.

The comments by Lai, who took office in May, are the latest in the leader’s series of tussles over China’s claim that Taiwan is part of its sovereign territory.

Speaking at a party for Taiwan’s upcoming National Day on October 10, Lai said the government of the Republic of China, which rules independent Taiwan, will celebrate its 113th birthday.

Meanwhile, the People’s Republic of China, which rules mainland China from Beijing under leader Xi Jinping, celebrated its 75th birthday on October 1.

“Therefore, in terms of age, it is definitely impossible for the People’s Republic of China to become the motherland of the people of the Republic of China,” Lai said.

Then he took that rhetoric up a notch.

“On the contrary, the Republic of China may actually be the motherland of people over 75 years old in the People’s Republic of China,” Lai continued as his audience cheered and cheered.

Lai called on Taiwanese to be “precise” in congratulating China on its 75th anniversary and to avoid using the word “motherland”.

The Republic of China was founded in 1912 after the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty. After losing a civil war to Mao Zedong’s communist revolutionaries, its leaders, troops and several million refugees fled to Taiwan in 1949 – the same year Mao established the People’s Republic of China.

Beijing has spent decades trying to convince the people and leaders of Taiwan that the island should be absorbed into mainland control, often threatening to do so by force.

But the rise of Lai’s Democratic Progressive Party, which has led Taiwan since 2016, indicates a growing attitude among voters that Taipei should resist Beijing and prepare to defend itself if necessary.

Lai, who served as vice president under former President Tsai Ing-wen, leaned into the post while campaigning for the top job and then taking power.

Chinese media and officials responded by calling Lai a “bold secessionist. The crime that comes with the tag can now carry a sentence as harsh as the death penalty.

Lai still keeps the pressure on. On Sunday, he again described Taiwan as a “sovereign and independent country,” a characterization that deeply angers Beijing. There is a movement in Taiwan for the island to formally declare independence – which China says is a red line that essentially means war – and Lai has repeatedly hinted at the idea without endorsing it.

All of this has made cross-strait dynamics increasingly difficult, with Taiwan still heavily dependent on China for trade. During Tsai’s years as president, the island sent up to 43.9 percent of its annual exports to the mainland and Hong Kong. China has even given Taiwan tariff concessions for over a decade, though it has stopped them.

Between 1991 and 2022, Taiwanese investors invested at least $203 billion in China in more than 45,000 approved investment cases, according to government statistics.

Taiwan’s government introduced the New South Policy in 2016, an initiative to focus more on trade with India and Southeast Asia so that Taipei can reduce its dependence on China.

All this comes against a backdrop of growing tension over relations between China and the US, which announced its largest-ever military aid package of $567 million for Taiwan on September 29.

A Chinese invasion of Taiwan has long been feared as the tipping point for an all-out, and even nuclear, war between Beijing and Washington.

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