Thu, May 21, 2026 page2

• Opposition blames Lai for Taiwan’s issues

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

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

  The KMT in a statement said Lai continues to openly promote the “two-state” theory, despite US President Donald Trump saying that he would not support Taiwanese independence.

  

  Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun speaks at the party’s Central Standing Committee meeting in Taipei yesterday.

  Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times

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

  His statement that Taiwan’s first democratic election in 1996 marked “a new nation reborn” undermined national sovereignty, as changing the way a president is chosen does not constitute a “new nation,” the KMT said.

  Lai is engaging in a political smear campaign, and such statements only prove that he is incapable of creating peace and reopening cross-strait dialogue, it added.

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

  Lai is attempting to seek Taiwanese independence by relying on the US, even though Trump already “exposed” the strategy, the KMT said.

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

  The “1992 consensus,” a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) in 2006 admitted making up in 2000, refers to a tacit understanding between the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party that both sides of the Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.

  The “1992 consensus” serves as an anchor that stabilizes cross-strait tensions, enables dialogue, reduces hostility and prevents war across the Taiwan Strait, the KMT said.

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

  Cross-strait relations are not comparable to North and South Korea’s, as China and Taiwan are not two divided states, the KMT said.

  It is also hypocrital to label those willing to engage with China as conducting “united front work” and selling out Taiwan, it said.

  It was referring to Lai saying that Taiwan is willing to engage with China under the principles of respect and reciprocity to establish healthy relations, but that the nation would “firmly reject ‘united front’ tactics that package unification as peace.”

  Meanwhile, the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) slammed Lai for what it said was his inability to solve the domestic political deadlock, an energy crisis, and shifts in geopolitics on the checks and balances provided by democratically elected opposition lawmakers.

  The TPP urged Lai to stop political confrontation, and deliver on his promises of “unity, safeguarding democracy, pursuing peace and creating prosperity.”

  Additional reporting by CNA
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