China's top diplomat warned on Sunday that any moves towards Taiwan independence would be "severely punished" after the self-ruled island defied Beijing's warnings and elected pro-sovereignty candidate Lai Tsingta for president.
"If anyone on the island of Taiwan thinks of seeking independence and tries to divide China's territory, they will certainly be severely punished by both history and law," Foreign Minister Wang Yi said at a joint press conference with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shukri. in Cairo. “It's a dead end. No matter what the election results are, they cannot change the basic fact that there is only one China and Taiwan is a part of it. Taiwan was never a country. It has not been in the past and certainly will not be in the future," he stressed. Efforts in this direction, Wang warned, "seriously threaten the well-being of Taiwanese compatriots, seriously harm the core interests of the Chinese nation, and seriously threaten peace and stability in the region of Taiwan Strait".
In Saturday's presidential election, voters on the island rejected repeated calls from Beijing not to vote for Lai, securing a comfortable victory for a man seen by China's ruling Communist Party as a dangerous separatist. Beijing claims Taiwan as its territory and has never relinquished force to bring it under its control. In the Chinese capital, they are convinced that Lai's victory will not change the "inevitable trend of unification of China". /BGNES
