On frontline island, Taiwan president rejects China's rule for freedom
Taiwan wants to continue its free way of life and rejects being ruled by China’s Communist Party, Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said Friday.
KINMEN, Taiwan — Taiwan wants to continue its free way of life and rejects being ruled by China’s Communist Party, Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said Friday, visiting a frontline island between the two sides to mark a key battle with Chinese forces.
China’s military carried out another round of maneuvers around Taiwan as Lai was making the comments, underscoring what Taiwan’s government views as Beijing’s ongoing efforts to undermine regional peace and stability.
Taiwan has controlled the Kinmen and Matsu islands, which lie just off the Chinese coast, since the defeated Republic of China government fled to Taipei in 1949 after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong’s communists. No peace treaty or armistice has ever been signed.
The scene of on-off fighting during the height of the Cold War, Kinmen has been the site of regular patrols by China’s coast guard since February after the deaths of two Chinese people on a speedboat for which Beijing blamed Taipei.
On his first trip to Kinmen since assuming office in May, Lai laid a wreath and bowed his head in respect at a memorial park for the 66th anniversary of a clash with Chinese forces, known as the start of the second Taiwan Strait crisis.
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