In response to Taiwan President Lai Ching-te’s remarks marking the two-year anniversary of his inauguration, China’s mainland official media People’s Daily published an article on Thursday stating that Lai Ching-te’s 'reliance on foreign forces for independence' is nothing but a pipe dream. The article also stated that no matter who tries to intervene militarily in the Taiwan Strait, they will not benefit—something the United States is well aware of.
On Wednesday, Lai Ching-te said that maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and preventing outside forces from changing the status quo are 'Taiwan’s national strategic goals.' In an article authored under the pen name 'Zhong Yiping', People’s Daily claimed that this is an attempt to redefine Taiwan independence and to put a gloss on his pursuit of 'independence.' The article questioned, from ranting wildly about Taiwan independence to now trying to disguise it, why is Lai Ching-te playing word games? Why has he suddenly become so evasive?
The article asserted that the Lai Ching-te administration now finds itself in an embarrassing dilemma, starting to play tricks with its rhetoric, putting forth the so-called 'defense of the status quo of the Republic of China, there's no independence issue' as a sophistry—trying to package separatist acts as 'defending the status quo,' and shifting the responsibility for undermining peace in the Taiwan Strait onto the mainland.
The article said that the Lai Ching-te government has always tried to instill one particular idea in the minds of the Taiwanese public: that the mainland will not fight, does not dare to fight, because Taiwan has the United States as its backing; that in the event of war in the Taiwan Strait, the United States can provide protection. 'Now, the U.S. president has personally denied such a possibility, directly bursting this fantasy and exposing the lie—a resounding slap in the face. More importantly, this is a decision that the U.S. is inevitably making, based on the bigger picture of China-U.S. relations and its own national interests.'
The article also stated: 'China’s determination to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity is as firm as a rock. No matter who tries to intervene with force in the Taiwan Strait, they will never benefit and will only bring disaster upon themselves. The United States knows this very well.'