'Ignorant' to call Taiwan a country, China says responding to Taipei's foreign minister
BEIJING - It is "arrogant and ignorant" to call Taiwan a country and its future can only be decided by China's 1.4 billion people, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Thursday in a rebuff to the democratically-governed island's foreign minister.
China views Taiwan as its own territory and says the island is one of its provinces with no right to be called a state. It has stepped up military and political pressure to assert those claims, including increasing the intensity of war games.
Taiwan's Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung said on Wednesday that China had no authority to decide whether Taiwan was a country because the island chooses its own government. He added that he would be happy to shake the hand of his Chinese opposite number, Wang Yi, in friendship.
Speaking to reporters in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Taiwan had never been a country.
"The relevant remarks only reveal that certain somebody's arrogance and ignorance, and they are naked provocations for Taiwan independence," she said.
"The future of Taiwan can only be decided by the more than 1.4 billion Chinese people, including our Taiwan compatriots, and China will and must be reunified eventually, which is a historical trend that no force can stop."
Taiwan's formal name is the Republic of China, the name of the government which in 1949 fled to the island after losing a bloody civil war with Mao Zedong's communists, who established the People's Republic of China. Taipei says Beijing has no right to speak for the island nor claim it as its own.
In a video released on Thursday by his office, Taiwan President Lai Ching-te told military officers that "precious" freedom and democracy must be guarded by strength and constant vigilance.
"Freedom and democracy are not gifts that fall from the sky; they are the fruits of the perseverance and sacrifice of generations of courageous people," he said, in footage filmed on Friday when Lai was visiting the armed forces in southern Taiwan.
Lai, who China describes as a "separatist", is this week marking one year since he took office. China has rebuffed repeated offers from him for talks. REUTERS
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Straits Times
25 minutes ago
- Straits Times
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Business Times
an hour ago
- Business Times
China blasts Hegseth as defence minister avoids Singapore forum
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Straits Times
an hour ago
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Poland votes in tight presidential race between pro-EU and nationalist visions
Polish presidential candidate Karol Nawrocki, backed by the main opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, and his wife Marta Nawrocka look on on the day of his final rally, ahead of the second round of presidential election, in Biala Podlaska, Poland, May 30, 2025. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel Polish presidential candidate Karol Nawrocki, backed by the main opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, speaks during his final rally, ahead of the second round of presidential election, in Biala Podlaska, Poland, May 30, 2025. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel A supporter of Polish presidential candidate Karol Nawrocki, backed by the main opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, wears boxing gloves during Nawrocki's final rally, ahead of the second round of presidential election, in Biala Podlaska, Poland, May 30, 2025. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel A combination picture shows two leading candidates in the Polish presidential election, Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, Civic Coalition presidential candidate, smiling during a visit to the Weglewski farm, ahead of the second round of Polish presidential election, in Buczek, May 29, 2025, and Polish presidential candidate Karol Nawrocki, backed by the main opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, reacting during his final rally, ahead of the second round of presidential election, in Biala Podlaska, Poland, May 30, 2025. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel Supporters of Polish presidential candidate Karol Nawrocki, backed by the main opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, attend his final rally, ahead of the second round of presidential election, in Biala Podlaska, Poland, May 30, 2025. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel WARSAW - Voting was underway in Poland's knife-edge presidential election on Sunday, which will determine whether the largest country in the European Union's eastern wing cements its place in the bloc's mainstream or turns towards MAGA-style nationalism. Turnout holds the key to the contest between Rafal Trzaskowski of ruling centrists Civic Coalition (KO), who holds a narrow lead in opinion polls, and Karol Nawrocki, backed by nationalists Law and Justice (PiS). Opinion polls show that the difference between the candidates is within the margin of error. Voting began at 7 a.m. (0500 GMT) and is due to end at 9 p.m., with exit polls published soon afterwards. The electoral commission says it hopes final results will be announced on Monday morning or early afternoon. Parliament holds most power in Poland but the president can veto legislation so the vote is being watched closely in neighbouring Ukraine, as well as in Russia, the U.S. and across the EU. Both candidates agree on the need to spend heavily on defence, as U.S. President Donald Trump is demanding from Europe, and to continue supporting Ukraine in its fight against Russia's three-year-old invasion. But while Trzaskowski sees Ukraine's future membership of NATO as essential for Poland's security, Nawrocki has recently said he would not ratify it as president as this could draw the alliance into a war with Russia. Trzaskowski says strong relations with both Brussels and Washington are essential for Poland's security, but Nawrocki, who met Trump in the White House in May, prioritises relations with the United States. "The most important thing is foreign policy," said IT specialist Robert Kepczynski, 53, who was voting in Warsaw. "We can't look both ways, to the U.S. and the EU - and looking only to the U.S. for help is short-sighted." Economist Maria Luczynska, 73, said that going to vote made her emotional. "(The election) is important because this is how we decide our future. What country my daughter, my grandchildren will live in." If Nawrocki wins, he is likely to follow a similar path to President Andrzej Duda, a PiS ally who has used his veto power to block the government's efforts to undo the previous PiS administration's judicial reforms, which the EU says undermined the independence of the courts. Coming around a year and a half since Prime Minister Donald Tusk took office, the vote provides the stiffest test yet of support for his broad coalition government, with Nawrocki presenting the ballot as a referendum on its actions. In 2023, huge queues outside polling stations in large cities forced some to stay open later than planned. Analysts said that high participation by younger, liberal, urban Poles was crucial in securing a majority for Tusk. Trzaskowski is hoping that such scenes will be repeated on Sunday. "Encourage everyone, so that as many Poles as possible vote in the presidential election," he told a rally in Wloclawek, central Poland, on Friday. Nawrocki, who draws inspiration from Trump and his Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement, told supporters in Biala Podlaska in the country's east that "these elections could be decided by single votes". SOCIAL ISSUES The two candidates also differ on social issues, with Trzaskowski favouring the liberalisation of abortion laws and introduction of civil partnerships for LGBT couples, while Nawrocki says predominantly Catholic Poland should reject such moves. The first round of the election on May 18 saw a surge in support for the anti-establishment far-right, suggesting that the KO-PiS duopoly that has dominated Polish politics for a generation may be starting to fracture. Nevertheless, after a tumultuous campaign in which Nawrocki in particular faced a slew of negative media reports about his alleged past conduct, once again candidates representing the two main parties are facing off in the second round. PiS has traditionally enjoyed high support in small towns and rural areas, especially in the south and east. These areas are typically more socially conservative than larger cities and poorer, creating a sense of exclusion that PiS has tapped into. "They want to build a Poland for the elites," Nawrocki told voters in Biala Podlaska, referring to his opponents from KO. KO, meanwhile, campaigns on a pro-European centrist agenda that appeals to more liberal-minded Poles who mainly live in cities or bigger towns. Trzaskowski took heart from the turnout at a rally in Ciechanow, central Poland. "Looking at this mobilisation, I see how much hope you have - hope in a future in which Poland plays a leading role in the European Union," he said. 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