Wed, May 20, 2026 page2

• Lai provoking cross-strait tensions with address: KMT

  • By Liu Wan-lin and Hollie Younger / Staff reporter, with staff writer
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  The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) today accused President William Lai (賴清德) of stoking cross-strait tensions in his anniversary address by pushing pro-independence rhetoric.

  Lai delivered a speech this morning to mark the second anniversary of his inauguration and 30 years since Taiwan’s first democratic election.

  The president continues to openly promote the “two-state” theory, despite US President Donald Trump warning Taiwan in recent days that he would not support Taiwanese independence, the KMT said in a news release.

  

  The headquarters of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in Taipei are pictured in an undated photograph.

  Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times

  Lai is provoking cross-strait tensions through pro-independence rhetoric, ignoring international realities and thereby endangering the nation’s 23 million people, it said.

  In his speech, Lai said that Taiwan’s first democratic election in 1996 marked “a new nation reborn.”

  The KMT said that the comment undermines national sovereignty, as changing the way in which a president is elected does not constitute a “new nation.”

  The party further accused Lai of engaging in a political smear campaign that only proves he is incapable of creating peace and reopening cross-strait dialogue.

  The president refuses to acknowledge his own role in increasing Taiwan’s security risk, and instead shifts blame onto the opposition for advocating peace, it said.

  It also accused Lai of attempting to seek independence by relying on the US, even though Trump already “exposed” the strategy.

  In 2023, Lai said that accepting the so-called “1992 consensus” is equivalent to abandoning Taiwan’s sovereignty.

  The “1992 consensus” refers to a tacit understanding between the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party that both sides of the Taiwan Strait acknowledge that there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.

  The KMT said that the “1992 consensus” serves as an anchor to stabilize cross-strait tensions, enabling dialogue, reducing hostility and preventing war across the Taiwan Strait.

  Under the Constitution, Taiwan is a sovereign and independent country in terms of international relations, while in terms of cross-strait relations, the two do not recognize each other’s sovereignty, but do not deny each other’s governing authority, the party said.

  Therefore, cross-strait relations are not comparable to North and South Korea, as China and Taiwan are not two divided states, it added.

  Lai said in his address that Taiwan is willing to engage with China under the principles of respect and reciprocity to establish healthy relations, although it would “firmly reject ‘united front’ tactics that package unification as peace.”

  The KMT said it is hypocritical to label those willing to engage with China as conducting “united front work” and “selling out Taiwan.”

  This is not respect and reciprocity; it is a political double standard, it said.
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