As Taiwan’s conflict with China continues to rise, the self-governed island’s presidential frontrunner for next year’s elections said on Saturday that its sovereignty and independence belong to the Taiwanese people during a heated debate with other candidates over growing tensions in the Taiwan Strait.

Taiwan’s upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections will take place on January 13, ahead of which China has stepped up military and political pressure to assert its claims of sovereignty over the island, including regularly sending warplanes into the strait.

Current Taiwan Vice President Lai Ching-te, the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) presidential candidate, said that he was open to talks with China, which has repeatedly rebuffed his offers of dialogue as it believes he is a dangerous separatist.

“On so-called Taiwan independence, Taiwan’s basic position is that Taiwan’s sovereignty and independence belong to its 23 million people not the People’s Republic of China… The Republic of China and People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other – this is the definition of Taiwan independence,” Lai said.

China says that the Taiwan election is an internal Chinese affair but that the island’s people face a choice between war and peace and any attempt at Taiwan independence means war. 

What did the opposition candidates say?

Hou Yu-ih, the candidate for Taiwan’s largest opposition party Kuomintang (KMT) who is closing in on Lai in the opinion election polls, accused the vice president of smearing him with accusations of being pro-China, reiterating his opposition to both Taiwan’s independence and China’s “one country, two systems” model.

Kuomintang (KMT), which traditionally favours close ties with China but denies being pro-Beijing, say only the island’s people can decide their future. The other candidate from the small Taiwan People’s Party, former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je, said that his bottom line in engaging with China was the protection of Taiwan’s current political system and way of life.

China’s aggression towards Taiwan

Recently, Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed to prevent anyone from trying to ‘split’ Taiwan from the Chinese mainland “in any way”, asserting that the reunification of the Chinese “motherland” is an irreversible trend. He made these remarks at a symposium commemorating the 130th birth anniversary of former Chinese leader Mao Zedong, who defeated the Republic of China government in a civil war in 1949, causing the latter to flee to Taiwan. He further said that China must deepen integration between the two sides, promote the peaceful development of relations across the Taiwan Strait, and “resolutely prevent anyone from splitting Taiwan from China in any way”. 

Additionally, the Chinese government on Wednesday threatened to place more trade sanctions on Taiwan if the ruling DPP “stubbornly” adheres to supporting independence, in a further escalation of the war of words before the impending Taiwanese elections.

Taiwan has accused China of economic coercion and election interference after Beijing announced the end of tariff cuts on some chemical imports from the island, claiming that Taipei violated a trade agreement between the two sides signed in 2010. China has also put up trade barriers for the self-governed island in contravention of World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules and the 2010 trade deal.

Chen Binhua, spokesperson for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said that the “root cause” of resolving problems related to the 2010 deal was Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) adherence to the island’s formal independence. “If the DPP authorities are determined to persevere, continue to stubbornly adhere to their Taiwan independence position, and refuse to repent, we support the relevant departments taking further measures in accordance with the regulations,” Chen said.

(with Reuters inputs)

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