By Yi-Chin Lee and Ann Wang
TAIPEI, July 19 (Reuters) – Taiwan must work together to protect its democracy and not become part of China, President Lai Ching-te said on Sunday, calling on members of his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to oppose the “red terror” coming from Beijing.
Lai, who won election two years ago, and his ruling DPP, champion Taiwan’s separate identity from China, a position that frequently angers Beijing which views the island as an inviolable part of Chinese territory.
Speaking to the DPP’s annual convention, Lai said Taiwan must remain vigilant in times of peace, pointing to what he said was China’s “legal warfare”, such as its new ethnic unity law which gives Beijing the basis to take action against people outside its borders.
That has alarmed Taiwan, because it could give Beijing another legal basis to try and prosecute or arrest Taiwanese it views as separatists. China has rejected all criticism of the law. China’s legal system has no jurisdiction in Taiwan.
“I also expect comrades within the party to stand on the front lines, unite as one, and jointly oppose the threat posed by China’s ‘red terror’ to Taiwanese society,” Lai added, speaking in Taiwanese, also known as Hokkien or Hoklo, rather than the main language of government, Mandarin.
“We must work together to protect our democratic and free way of life, and absolutely never allow ‘democratic Taiwan’ to turn back and become ‘China’s Taiwan’,” he said.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. China has rebuffed Lai’s repeated calls for talks, calling him a “separatist”.
Lai, who is also DPP chairman, reiterated that Taiwan is already an independent country, whose constitutional name is the Republic of China, and it is not subordinate to the People’s Republic of China.
“Regardless of ethnic group, regardless of who came earlier or later, anyone who identifies with Taiwan is a master of the country. Taiwan’s future must be decided jointly by the 23 million people of Taiwan,” he said.
The defeated Republic of China government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong’s communists, who formed the People’s Republic.
To this day neither government formally recognises the other and no peace treaty to end the civil war or armistice has ever been signed.
Over the past decade of DPP government, Lai said Taiwan had not backed down in the face of “authoritarian expansion”, disinformation attacks, military threats, and diplomatic pressure.
“Taiwan has shown the world that democracy is not a weakness; democracy is strength,” he added.
(Reporting by Yi-Chin Lee and Ann Wang; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
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