Beijing accuses Taiwan's William Lai of inciting cross-strait confrontation in speech
Beijing has lashed out at
Taiwan's leader for calling the island a country during a speech that the mainland said contained 'fabricated fallacies'.
In a commentary on Tuesday, People's Daily, a mouthpiece of mainland China's ruling Communist Party, said
William Lai Ching-te 's speech to a Taiwanese branch of Rotary International on Sunday was 'full of various factual errors and historical fallacies' and was highly provocative and harmful.
'It was a 'Taiwan independence' declaration that blatantly incited cross-strait confrontation, and a hodgepodge of 'Taiwan independence' fallacies and heresies full of errors and omissions,' it said.
'It once again showed Lai Ching-te's ignorance and madness, and once again exposed his stubborn 'Taiwan independence' nature and ugly face, confirming that he is a troublemaker, danger-maker and war-maker.
'No matter how much a fallacy is polished, it is still a fallacy; no matter how much a lie is beautified, it is still a lie.'
05:05
Trump and Xi discuss Taiwan, troubled US-China trade ties in call breaking stand-off
Trump and Xi discuss Taiwan, troubled US-China trade ties in call breaking stand-off
During his speech on Sunday – the first of 10 in a series called 'Uniting the country' – Lai said Taiwan was 'of course' a country.
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