Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen said in her last National Day speech Tuesday that the island seeks peaceful coexistence with China, calling on both sides to contribute to regional peace and stability despite growing cross-strait tensions.
On the 112th anniversary of the start of an uprising that led to the overthrow of China's last imperial dynasty, Tsai also said at a celebratory event in front of her office in Taipei that it is her duty to safeguard the democratic and free way of life enjoyed by 23 million Taiwanese people.
"Let me reiterate that peace is the only option across the strait. Maintaining the status quo, as the largest common denominator for all sides, is the critical key to ensuring peace," Tsai said.
Oct. 10 is celebrated annually in Taiwan as National Day as it marks the 1911 uprising on the mainland that ushered in the Republic of China, Taiwan's official name, the following year.
Communist-led China views the self-ruled democratic island as a renegade province to be united with the mainland, by force if necessary. Beijing has put increased military pressure on the territory in recent years, conducting several large-scale drills near the island.
Tsai, who cannot run in the presidential election next January due to having served two four-year terms in office, has been trying to drum up international support for Taiwan over the years.
"The international community has come to realize that peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait is an indispensable component of global security and prosperity," she said. "Neither side can unilaterally change the status quo. Differences across the strait must be resolved peacefully."
Showing their support for Taiwan at the National Day celebrations was a bipartisan group of over 40 Japanese lawmakers from the Japan-ROC Diet Members' Consultative Council, who took part in a parade with Taiwanese legislators.
Other dignitaries at the event included those from Taiwan's allies, including the Caribbean islands of Saint Christopher and Nevis, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
Beijing particularly dislikes the ruling and independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party to which Tsai belongs, and resolutely opposes official interaction between Taiwan and other countries.
Later in the day, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin criticized DPP authorities for sticking to their "Taiwan independence separatist" position and colluding with external forces to provoke tensions, saying they pose "the single biggest threat to peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait."
"No matter what DPP authorities say or do, it won't change the fact that Taiwan is part of China or alter the overwhelming trend" toward complete reunification of China, Wang told a press conference in Beijing.
The Nationalist government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong's Communists, who set up the People's Republic of China.
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