China To Taiwan's Elected Leader: Choose Peace Or War

UNSPLASH/Arthur Wang ILLUSTRATION

JAKARTA - China urges Taiwan's new leader William Lai Ching-te, to be sworn in next week, to choose between peace or war, state media reported.

"There is peace, not war; development, not repatriation; interaction, not separation; and cooperation, not confrontation that represents the sentiments of the Taiwanese people," Chen Binhua, spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of China's State Council, reported by ANTARA, Wednesday, May 15.

He commented on the possible speech for Lai's inauguration on Monday (20/5).

Binhua said Lai "must decide whether to heed the aspirations of the people and take the path of peaceful development or deviate from public opinion."

Lai, 64, was elected in January to replace the first woman to become the leader of Laiwan, Tsai Ing-wen.

China hates the Democratic Progressive Party led by Tsai, which lost a majority in the regional legislative council of the opposition party --Kuomitang.

Lai currently serves as Tsai's representative and is referred to as a "dangerous separatist" by Beijing for his words and actions deemed an anti-One-China policy.

China considers Taiwan a separate province, but Taiwan insists that it has had an independent government since 1949.

China flew 45 planes and delivered six naval vessels around Taiwan on Wednesday, according to Taiwan's defense ministry.

About 26 of them crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait and entered the north and southwest air defense identification zones (ADIZ) of the archipelago. However, Beijing does not recognize the median or ADIZ lines.

While there has been no official diplomatic relations with Taiwan, relations between Western countries led by the United States have increased in recent years, inviting sharp criticism from Beijing.