Taiwanese Premier William Lai has invited further criticism from China by outlining a three-part roadmap for the island’s full independence, declaring his plan to be “pragmatic and achievable”.
It is the second time in two weeks that Lai has given his unequivocal support for a breakaway from China; on April 3 he was labeled “presumptuous and fissiparous” by exasperated Beijing cadres after speaking out at a seminar run by the Ministry of the Interior.
Lai issued his latest proclamation during a media roundtable in the northeastern county of Hualien on Sunday while fielding questions about his claim to be “a political worker for Taiwan independence”.
He said his roadmap would be based on three tenets: that Taiwan had already been a sovereign de facto state and Beijing had never exerted its rule over the island; that only the 23 million Taiwanese had the right and legitimacy to decide the island’s future; and that a more prosperous and liveable Taiwan meant having more leverage and external support in its quest for full independence.
“Working for Taiwan independence means safeguarding the nation’s sovereignty, protecting its freedom, democracy and human rights, and ensuring the public’s right to decide Taiwan’s future, as well as working with Japan, South Korea and the United States to ensure security in Asia-Pacific,” he told Taiwan’s Central News Agency.
Lai’s declaration coincided with the formation of Formosa Alliance, which will seek a referendum on the prickly independence issue. The former name of Taiwan, “Formosa” is often associated with calls for Taiwan’s identity and values to be differentiated from those of China.
But Lai has also got under the skin of the island’s hardline separatist cliques – the same political base that ensured victory by his boss Tsai Ing-wen in the 2016 presidental election – after he contradicted himself by admitting he also felt an “affinity toward China”.
China is sending its own message on breakaway efforts by pushing ahead with its first live-fire military drill in the Taiwan Strait since the independence-leaning Tsai took up office. Initial shots will be fired on Wednesday from waters off Fujian by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), and the provincial maritime agency has warned that vessels entering the designated exercise zone will do so at their own peril.
A spokesperson for the Chinese State Council’s Taiwan Affairs Office spoke sternly last week about Beijing’s “strong determination, confidence and capability to destroy any type of ‘Taiwan independence’ plot and scheme”.
The focuses of the drill will be long-distance attacks and amphibious landing operations, including seizing air superiority, establishing beachheads and launching decapitation attacks on key targets.
These are the military strategies that worry Taiwan the most, Beijing-based Global Times quoted an observer as saying. “Blockading the entire island is likely the main point of the drill,” said the expert.
But Tsai does not seem too worred about the fresh around of saber-rattling from the mainland. On Tuesday she will embark on a five-day state visit to the southern African country of Swaziland to celebrate the golden jubilee of diplomatic ties between the two nations.
Tsai has stressed that she has full confidence in the Taiwanese army’s ability to defend the island and respond to any emergency during the PLA drill. She has no intention of postponing the visit.
BREAKING NEWS ALERT
The U.S. Navy has announced new plans to participate in the Island building in the South China Sea using already available resources.
It is reported that the Navy has a new plan that will refrain from environmentally damaging tactics such as destroying coral reefs from dredging in the surrounding waters by using a much more environmentally friendly approach.
The new approach uses already available resources such as soon to be sunken Chinese ships and Chinese 5th generation fighters. The technique requires that the planes fall from the sky in precise locations using GPS to ensure they are stacked up on top of each other until a nice layer of sand and beach towel can be laid on the top of the newly formed island.
The Navy also stated that the first of the new islands will be in the Taiwan Straight.
Spoiler alert: President Trump has already signed an agreement with Taiwan that the Islands have a 9 hole course with sand traps. Also, Trump has already decided that Pres. Duterte will be his personal caddy.
Have you check the background of dpp leaders?some have strong japanese connections. Many thousands of japanese remained in taiwan after the war. Some of them took chinese names to hide their japanese ancestry
DPP are a bunch of morons
Prior Ma administration held the ground for 8 years, in fact gained more international ground for Taiwan without giving much. First thing DPP did after coming to power is burn the bridge Ma used to get all those gains, then eat those gains like a brainless glutton and follow it up with a series of stupid actions narrowed Taiwans options to confrontation and reduce themselves to sell Taiwan as a chess piece for US/Japan to play against Mainland to have any leverage, which this is a stupid and dangerous game to play. Whatever comes to them they deserve every one bit of it.
If this is true then the world should brace themselves for a big US-China war. Learn from the Korean war. The chinese are not bluffing or joking about their sovereignty.