Taiwan’s newly inaugurated president, William Lai Ching-te, invited China for dialogue following its ‘punishment’ drills around Taiwan.
According to BBC, the president called on China to stop threatening the island and accept the existence of its democracy.
Lia, after taking oath last week, urged Beijing to replace confrontation with dialogue.
He said in the inauguration speech, “(Taiwan was a) sovereign and independent nation with sovereignty resting in the people.”
Lia also stressed that his country will make no concessions on its freedoms and called on China to ‘stop its aggression against Taiwan.’
China responded to the state head by saying, “Taiwan independence is a dead end.”
China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a daily press briefing, “Regardless of the pretext or the banner under which it is pursued, the push for Taiwan independence is destined to fail.”
For the unversed, the drills were part of an escalating campaign of political and military intimidation by Mainland China, which claimed the island as its own and had not ruled out the use of force to achieve its goals.
People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern Theatre Command spokesman, Colonel Li Xi, describes that the two days of military exercises are testing the ‘capability of joint seizure of power, joint strikes and control of key territories.’
