Taiwan “will not give in” to pressure from China, says its president

(Taipei) Taiwan “will not give in” to pressure from China, the president of the autonomous island, Lai Ching-te, said on Wednesday.

“The annexation of Taiwan is a national policy of the People’s Republic of China,” Mr. Lai observed during a press conference organized at the end of his first month in office.

“In addition to military force, [le gouvernement chinois] has increasingly resorted to non-traditional methods of coercion in an attempt to force Taiwan into submission. But Taiwan will not give in to pressure,” assured Mr. Lai.

“The people of Taiwan will firmly uphold national sovereignty and uphold their democratic and free constitutional way of life,” he added.

China stressed that the military maneuvers launched a few days after President Lai’s inauguration on May 20 constituted “punishment” for his inauguration speech, which Beijing had described as an “admission of Taiwan’s independence.”

For 48 hours, China had mobilized warships, planes, soldiers and missile launchers to encircle the island.

Beijing calls for “peaceful” reunification with this democratic territory of 23 million inhabitants, but does not rule out using force to place it under its control.

After these exercises, Beijing promised that military pressure on the island would continue “as long as provocations linked to Taiwan’s independence continue”.

Separated from China by a narrow canal, Taiwan has its own government, its own army and its own currency.

Mr Lai, considered a “dangerous separatist” by China, said there was no need for Taiwan to officially declare independence because it was “already independent”.