President William Lai’s (賴清德) first Double Ten National Day address would be consistent with previous speeches and reiterate his stance that Taiwan and China are not subordinate to each other, academics said on Tuesday.
Lai’s speech today would be similar in content and tone with previous addresses without significant changes, Tamkang University Graduate Institute of China Studies associate professor Chang Wu-ueh (張五岳) said.
Lai would emphasize that the Republic of China (ROC) in Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) are not subordinate to each other, Chang said.
Photo from the National Day Facebook page
That would echo a statement Lai made in his inaugural address on May 20, which, along with other comments on relations with China, were criticized by Chinese officials.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) spokesman Chen Binhua (陳斌華) said that Lai was “stubbornly insisting on the position of Taiwanese independence.”
National Cheng Kung University political science professor Wang Hung-jen (王宏仁) said Lai’s speech is expected to continue along the lines of mutual non-subordination, although he might introduce different interpretations or narratives.
For Beijing, “no matter how it is interpreted, they would not be able to accept it,” Wang said.
National leaders use major occasions such as inaugurations and national day ceremonies to convey important messages, he said.
For Taiwan, cross-strait issues are critical, and Lai would inevitably express goodwill, criticism or disagreement toward Chinese authorities in his National Day speech, he said.
Wang also commented on the Ministry of National Defense saying that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) would today launch a satellite launch vehicle from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan Province.
The Long March 3B/E carrier rocket, which the news site NASASpaceflight said is rumored to be carrying a “Weixing Hulianwang Gaogui 03 satellite,” would head toward the western Pacific and fly in space over Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ), the ministry said.
Wang said the launch is not a coincidence, but a deliberate action, as the PLA often engages in activities aimed at intimidating and pressuring countries in the region, largely with the intention of forcing those nations to exert pressure on Taiwan.
However, China’s intention might not be fully understood by those neighboring countries, he said, adding that what they mostly perceive is that “China poses a threat to their country.”
The launch would be one of at least a dozen satellite launches by China in the past 21 months with a flight path over Taiwan or its ADIZ, none of which have threatened or harmed Taiwan’s security because the rockets have left the Earth’s atmosphere by the time they pass over the nation.
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