Beijing “aims for the annexation and elimination of the Republic of China for its cause of great national rebirth,” Lai added, referring to Taiwan by its official name on the island.
For the president inaugurated in May “the most important mission is to courageously shoulder the heavy responsibility and the great task of protecting Taiwan and safeguarding peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait”.
The academy, which is celebrating its centenary, was founded in 1924 in Guangzhou, southern China. She moved once the nationalists were defeated on the mainland and took refuge on the island in 1949.
Dialogue broken since 2016
Tensions have increased since the May 20 inauguration of Lai Ching-te. Beijing insists that the island is part of its territory and threatens to reconquer it by force. At the end of May in particular, China carried out two days of major military maneuvers around Taiwan, mobilizing military ships and planes loaded with live ammunition, claiming that it was a “severe punishment” against the “ separatists.”
Beijing, which considers Lai Ching-te as a “dangerous separatist”, considered that his inauguration speech was akin to a “confession of the independence of Taiwan”. He pledged to defend Taiwan’s democracy and freedom, while calling for dialogue with China, broken since 2016. Like his predecessor, Mr. Lai maintains that Taiwan does not need a formal declaration of independence – red line for China – because it is “already independent”.
