President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan said on Monday that the people’s will should determine Taiwan’s relations with China and that peace should be based on “dignity”, after China’s leader, Xi Jinping, said that the island’s “reunification” with the mainland was inevitable.
China has been increasing its military pressure to enforce its sovereignty claims over Taiwan, which is governed by a democratic system and will hold presidential and parliamentary elections on Jan. 13.
Xi’s remarks, in a New Year’s Eve speech, were more assertive than the previous year when he only said that people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait were “members of one and the same family”.
At a New Year’s press conference at the presidential office in Taipei, Tsai responded to Xi’s speech by saying that democracy was the most important principle for deciding the direction of relations with China.
“This is based on the joint will of Taiwan’s people. After all, we are a democratic country,” she said.
Tsai added that China should respect the result of Taiwan’s election and that both sides had the responsibility to maintain peace and stability in the strait.
China has portrayed the election as a choice between war and peace and has rejected several proposals for dialogue by Tsai, who it considers a separatist.
Tsai has prioritized strengthening and modernizing Taiwan’s defenses, including developing a domestic submarine program. After China accused Taiwan of creating trade barriers and revoked some tariff reductions for the island, China threatened more economic actions last week.
Tsai said that Taiwan’s companies should diversify and look globally.
“This is the right path, instead of returning to the path of depending on China, especially when China’s market is unstable and has unpredictable risks,” she said.
“We have always welcomed healthy, orderly exchanges across the strait, but trade and economic exchanges cannot be used as a political tool.”
China has been especially critical of the current Vice President Lai Ching-te, the presidential candidate for Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Party (DPP) and who is leading in various opinion polls, saying that he is also a dangerous separatist.
Both the DPP and Taiwan’s largest opposition party the Kuomintang agree that only the island’s people can decide their future.
Tsai cannot run again after two terms in office. She will leave office in May when the next president takes office.
