“No matter what changes happen…”: China criticizes Taiwan poll results as president-elect vows to defend | 10 points

Taiwanese voters on Saturday gave a landslide victory to the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s presidential candidate Lai Ching-de, strongly rejecting Chinese pressure to remove him after China said it would not give up on achieving “unification.” . Lai Qingde will likely face his toughest task yet when he takes office in May, having to deal with the anger of China, which has repeatedly accused him of being a dangerous separatist.

10 points you need to know

1. In its first official response to neighboring Taiwan’s presidential election, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs reaffirmed its claim that the breakaway territory is part of China’s territory. CNN reported on Saturday that the ministry said any changes to the island nation would not affect Taiwan’s status as “part of China.” The report quoted a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson as saying, “No matter what changes happen in Taiwan, the basic fact remains that there is only one China in the world and Taiwan is a part of China.” .

2. While tensions between China and Taipei remain high, President Xi has repeatedly affirmed China’s position that the island nation is part of mainland China and must be unified by force if necessary.

3. Prior to this, Fox News reported that before Taiwan’s presidential election, President Xi Jinping claimed in his year-end speech that Taiwan would reunify with China.

4. Lai Ching-de on Saturday listed his priorities after being elected as Taiwan’s new supreme leader, saying he would work to protect the country from continued threats and intimidation from China, CNN reported. Stated. “I will act in a balanced manner to maintain the cross-strait status quo in accordance with the democratic and free constitutional order. At the same time, I am determined to protect Taiwan from continued threats and intimidation from China.” The statement was reported by CNN.

5. The Democratic Progressive Party candidate won the long-awaited Taiwan presidential poll, making it certain that he will become the next president of Taiwan. This is the Democratic Progressive Party’s historic third consecutive victory since Tsai Ing-wen ended her two terms as Taiwan’s president starting in 2016.

6. Regarding the election results, according to the report of the Central Election Commission, Mr. Lai received more than 5 million votes, with more than 90% of polling stations counting votes as of 7:45 p.m. , received over 40% of the vote. (local time).

7. Mr. Lai previously served as mayor of Tainan and was also appointed vice president of the Tsai administration in 2020.

8. In the Chinese government’s view, Mr. Lai, 64, is a separatist who, in his first remarks as prime minister in 2017, said that he would not support Taiwan’s formal independence (a red line for the Chinese government). ”, and is said to be a “thorough troublemaker.” The following year, he told Congress that he was a “practitioner of Taiwanese independence,” prompting the widely read Chinese newspaper Global Times to issue an international arrest warrant for China and arrest him in 2005. They called for prosecution under China’s anti-secession law. .

9. However, Lai, who won Saturday’s election, repeatedly said during the campaign that he wanted to maintain the status quo with China. “We don’t want to be enemies with China. We can be friends,” Lai said.

10. Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense announced on Saturday that it had detected two Chinese balloons crossing the Taiwan Strait in the past 24 hours, one of which flew over Taiwan Island. Earlier, the Ministry of Defense announced on Friday that it had spotted five Chinese balloons flying over the Taiwan Strait in the past 24 hours, with one of them passing over Taiwan. The ministry earlier this month accused China of threatening air security and conducting psychological warfare against islanders with balloons days before Taiwan’s crucial election on January 13.

(Information provided by Reuters, ANI)