The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday condemned Beijing’s “blatant” intimidation of Taiwanese as an attempt to influence tomorrow’s elections, following warnings over the past two days from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) that voting for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) would endanger cross-strait peace.
China is attempting to coerce Taiwanese by framing the election as a choice between war and peace, ignoring the objections of the international community and the feelings of Taiwanese, the ministry said in a statement.
“Such a brutal act of blatant election interference is the source of tension and confrontation in cross-strait relations and regional development,” it said.
Photo: Greg Baker, AFP
The TAO in a statement yesterday warned voters to make the correct choice, describing DPP presidential candidate Vice President William Lai (賴清德) as a “severe danger” who would threaten peace.
If Lai “comes to power, he will further push for ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist activities [and create] turbulence in the Taiwan Strait,” the office said. “[He] would continue to follow the evil path of provoking ‘independence’ and ... take Taiwan ever further away from peace and prosperity, and ever closer to war and decline.”
The day before, TAO spokesperson Chen Binhua (陳斌華) said that following President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) policies, as Lai has vowed, “is the root cause of the threat of war, societal division and damage to the people’s interests.”
Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) yesterday on social media criticized China’s “repeated interference” in the election.
“Taiwan’s upcoming elections are in the international spotlight & [China’s] repeated interference steals the focus. Frankly, Beijing should stop messing with other countries’ elections & hold their own. Let the Chinese people freely choose their leaders,” Wu said.
Beijing yesterday also hit out at Washington, after the White House announced a plan to send an unofficial delegation to Taiwan after the election.
Washington must “refrain from intervening in the elections ... so as to avoid causing serious damage to US-China relations,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Mao Ning (毛寧) said, criticizing Washington for its “brazen chattering about the elections.”
The 24 hours that ended at 6am yesterday also saw more incursions by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), as well as three more Chinese balloons floating across the Taiwan Strait.
Fifteen PLA aircraft and four navy vessels were detected operating near Taiwan, of which two aircraft entered the nation’s southwest air defense identification zone, the Ministry of National Defense said.
Three balloons were also spotted crossing the median line of the Strait, one of which passed over Taipei, it added.
Additional reporting by Kayleigh Madjar
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