Global Courant 2023-04-16 04:06:00
TAIPEI – A war over Taiwan would trigger a “global catastrophe” that China would struggle to endure, William Lai, the presidential candidate of Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), said Saturday.
China, which considers Taiwan its own territory, staged war games around the island this month and expressed its anger during a meeting in Los Angeles between Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
China said it had tested precision strikes and a blockade of Taiwan, whose government denounced exercises and rejected Beijing’s territorial claims.
At a campaign event in Tainan, southern Taiwan, Mr. Lai, the current Vice President of Taiwan, said that a war would have no winners, something he hoped China understood.
“China must clearly realize that once the war against Taiwan starts, while Taiwan will be directly harmed, it will also create a global catastrophe that China will find difficult to bear,” Lai said, according to the DPP’s comments.
Lai formally became the party’s presidential candidate this week. After two terms in office, Ms Tsai has been constitutionally barred from running in the January elections.
Taiwan’s main opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), has traditionally favored close ties with China and has repeatedly criticized the DPP for being hostile and hostile to Beijing.
The KMT has yet to make a decision on the presidential candidate.
Lai said that since China had not renounced the use of force over Taiwan, the island should prepare its defense, but noted that no one “wants to take the initiative to attack China”.
He said he would not miss any chance for peace, reiterating Ms Tsai’s call for a dialogue with China based on equality and respect.
China has rejected Tsai’s calls to talk, believing she is a separatist. Both she and Mr. Lai say that only the people of Taiwan can decide the future of the island.
Mr Lai angered China in 2018 when he was prime minister, telling parliament that he was a “Taiwanese independence worker” and that his position was that Taiwan was a sovereign, independent country – a red line for Beijing. REUTERS
