China said “reunification” with Taiwan was still “inevitable” after president-elect William Lai Ching-te won Saturday’s pivotal election on the self-ruled island that Beijing claims as its own.
Lai, from the governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), won despite warnings from China not to vote for him. He took 40.1 percent of votes cast, according to results from the Central Election Commission.
In the run-up to the polls, China denounced Lai as a dangerous separatist, said he would be a threat to peace in the region if he won, and called the elections a choice between “peace and war”.
Here are some of the reactions to the pivotal vote:
“Taiwan is China’s Taiwan,” Beijing’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson, Chen Binhua, said in a statement carried by state news agency Xinhua, adding that the DPP “cannot represent the mainstream public opinion on the island”.
But he added that the vote “will not impede the inevitable trend of China’s reunification”.
The vote “will not change the basic landscape and development trend of cross-Strait relations,” Binhua said. Beijing’s stance on “realising national reunification remains consistent, and our determination is as firm as rock.”
China “firmly oppose[s] the separatist activities aimed at ‘Taiwan independence’ as well as foreign interference”, he added.
United States
The United States does “not support” the independence of Taiwan, President Joe Biden said, after being asked by reporters for Washington’s position on Taiwan’s presidential vote.
The Biden administration has feared that the election, transition and new administration would escalate conflict with Beijing.
In a statement, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken saluted Lai on his victory and hailed the “robust democratic system and electoral process” of the self-ruled island.
Blinken added that Washington is “committed to maintaining cross-Strait peace and stability, and the peaceful resolution of differences, free from coercion and pressure”. Source: Aljazzera
