TAIPEI (Reuters) – It is “impossible” for the People’s Republic of China to become Taiwan’s motherland because Taiwan has older political roots, the island’s President Lai Ching-te said on Saturday.
Lai, who took office in May, is condemned by Beijing as a “separatist”. He rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims, saying that the island is a country called the Republic of China, which traces its origins back to the 1911 revolution that overthrew the last imperial dynasty.
The republican government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong’s communists who set up the People’s Republic of China, which continues to claim the island as its “sacred” territory.
Speaking at a concert ahead of Taiwan’s national day celebrations on Oct. 10, Lai noted that the People’s Republic had celebrated its 75th anniversary on Oct. 1, and in a few days it would be the Republic of China’s 113th birthday.
“Therefore, in terms of age, it is absolutely impossible for the People’s Republic of China to become the ‘motherland’ of the Republic of China’s people. On the contrary, the Republic of China may be the motherland of the people of the People’s Republic of China who are over 75 years old,” Lai added, to applause.
“One of the most important meanings of these celebrations is that we must remember that we are a sovereign and independent country,” he said.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office did not answer calls seeking comment outside of office hours.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, in a speech on the eve of his country’s national day, reiterated his government’s view that Taiwan was its territory.
Lai, who will give his own keynote national day address on Oct. 10, has needled Beijing before with historical references.
Last month, Lai said that if China’s claims on Taiwan were about territorial integrity then it should also take back land from Russia signed over by the last Chinese dynasty in the 19th century.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Mark Potter)