Expert describes Taiwan leader as 'war igniter' after reckless speech

Taiwan leader Lai Ching-te is a "pragmatic war igniter" as his recent speech showed that he is determined to push recklessly towards the path of "Taiwan independence", posing a serious threat to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, a Chinese mainland expert said.

Wang Yingjin, director of the Research Center for Cross-Strait Relations of the Renmin University of China, made the remarks at a seminar held by the center on Sunday on changes in Taiwan's political situation.

Experts from the Chinese mainland attending the seminar said that despite there being adjustments in terms of Lai's rhetoric in his speech on Thursday, his fundamental nature of promoting "Taiwan independence" remains unchanged.

Wang said that the core message of Lai's speech continued to maintain an anti-mainland stance, shifting blame onto the mainland for deteriorating cross-Strait relations, and perpetuating the narrative of the "mainland threat".

Zhu Guilan, an assistant professor from Tsinghua University's Institute of Taiwan Studies, said, throughout Lai's speech, there were no words related to "one China", and in Lai's mind, the two sides across the Strait are equating to "two countries".

According to Zhu, the term "Taiwan" appeared 44 times, "Republic of China" eight times, including "Republic of China, Taiwan" mentioned twice. Whenever the "Republic of China" was mentioned by Lai, he subtly transformed it into "Taiwan" within the surrounding context of the text.

Also, Lai selectively highlighted segmented aspects of the history of the "Republic of China" that favored "Taiwan independence", she added.

Zhu Songling, a professor at the Institute of Taiwan Studies, Beijing Union University, said that while Lai repeated "peace", his policies and rhetoric actually concealed a substantive intention of promoting cross-Strait division and confrontation, which would escalate tensions and risks in the Strait.