He urged Beijing to replace confrontation with dialogue, shortly after being sworn in on Monday.

Taiwan’s newly inaugurated president William Lai has called on China to stop threatening the island and accept the existence of its democracy.

He urged Beijing to replace confrontation with dialogue, shortly after being sworn in on Monday.

He also said Taiwan would never back down in the face of intimidation from China, which has long claimed the island as its own.

China responded by saying, “Taiwan independence is a dead end”.

“Regardless of the pretext or the banner under which it is pursued, the push for Taiwan independence is destined to fail,” China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at the daily press briefing on Monday afternoon.

  • jaschen@lemm.eeEnglish
    2·
    6 months ago

    Honestly, Japan and South Korea will be like Estonia with Ukraine.

    Xi isn’t planning on stopping in Taiwan. They are already aiming for the countries in the south China seas and Korea and Japan.

    It’s not a Taiwan problem. It’s a global problem.

    • cecinestpasunbot@lemmy.mlEnglish
      1·
      6 months ago

      Then I’m not sure you know much about the motivations of Xi, the CPC, or the US for that matter. Since the 80s both sides only real interest has been economic growth. The US was fine with Chinas growth for decades as long as they provide the US a source of cheap labor. However now, China’s economy is actually larger than the US’s in terms of purchase power parity. If left unchecked China would become the economic center of the world without firing a single shot.

      The US is clearly worried about losing it’s economic dominance as the worlds only superpower. That’s why it’s made contingency plans for how to confront China militarily. If they tried to subdue China through an invasion it wouldn’t work. China is a nuclear power and that would spell the end of the world. What they could do instead is use islands off the coast of China to enforce a naval blockade of the mainland. From South Korea, to Japan including Okinawa, to the Philippines the US is stationing military assets all the way down the coast. Taiwan would serve as the linch pin to that plan.

      Again I have to repeat the US is not the defender of liberal democracy that they claim to be. The people of Taiwan should be clear eyed about that.

      • jaschen@lemm.eeEnglish
        1·
        6 months ago

        Nobody knows Xi’s true motivation.

        The UK was once a super power and we didn’t need to form some sort of blockcade with the UK. Because their interest aligned with the US. Along with Taiwan and Japan and all the other NATO countries.