In his speech, Taiwan’s president will say that China has been causing “chaos”

A summary of Taiwan President Lai Ching-te’s national day speech on Thursday says that China has been using all available means to create “chaos.” This comes after the island reported seeing more Chinese airplanes in the days leading up to the speech.

Beijing doesn’t like Lai, who became president in May after winning an election in January. They call him a “separatist.” Taiwan is democratically ruled, but Beijing says it is its own land. Lai and his government disagree.

According to a summary of what Lai will say in his speech given to Reuters by a source familiar with the text, Taiwan is in a “complex situation” and China is still aggressively and psychologically targeting the island.

China keeps limiting Taiwan’s “international space” and does everything it can to create “chaos,” Lai will say. He will also promise to follow the lead of his predecessor, Tsai Ing-wen, and safely keep the peace and security across the Taiwan Strait, the source said.

Chinese officials are likely to hold military drills near Taiwan in response to Lai’s speech, using the drills as an excuse to put pressure on Taiwan to accept its sovereignty claims.

The Chinese military is active around Taiwan almost every day and often does what Taiwan calls “joint combat readiness patrols,” like the one on Wednesday before Lai’s speech.

China has 20 military planes and warships working in the north, center, and southwest of Taiwan, according to the country’s defense minister.

Calls to China’s defense ministry outside of business hours went unanswered, but earlier on Wednesday, the country reiterated its opposition to U.S. arms sales to Taiwan after the Biden administration accepted an additional $567 million for defense aid.

It’s important to stress that arming Taiwan means supporting Taiwan’s independence, and Taiwan’s independence means war, the ministry said, using the same words it has used before.

“INDEPENDENCE FALLACY”

Responding to Lai’s words from the weekend that the People’s Republic of China can’t become Taiwan’s motherland because Taiwan has deeper political roots, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said late Tuesday that he was mixing up right and wrong.

“Lai continues to promote the idea that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait are two separate countries,” the statement said.

“Lai Ching-te’s Taiwan independence fallacy is just old wine in a new bottle, and again exposes his obstinate stance on Taiwan independence and his sinister intentions of escalating hostility and confrontation,” the report said.

When the last Chinese empire was overthrown in 1911 and the Republic of China was created, Taiwan celebrates its national day.

In 1949, after losing a civil war to Mao Zedong’s communists, the fallen Republican government ran away to Taiwan.

China’s official name for Taiwan is still the Republic of China, and there has been no peace treaty or ceasefire signed.

U.S. State Department officials in Washington said they couldn’t guess what China would or would not do in reaction to Lai’s speech, which is being held outside of the presidential office in central Taipei.

“However, it is worth emphasizing that using routine annual celebrations or public remarks as a pretext or excuse for provocative or coercive measures undermines peace and stability,” the official said.

Besides these drills, China has also been doing a lot of other things lately, like working with Russia in the Western Pacific and testing an intercontinental ballistic missile last month.

It is Lai’s belief that only the people of Taiwan can decide their future. He has many times tried to talk with Beijing but has been turned down.

Following Lai’s May inauguration, China held “punishment” war games around Taiwan.