Lai condemned for citing 'threats' to call for hiking 'defense' spending

A spokesman from the Chinese mainland on Wednesday condemned Taiwan "president" Lai Ching-te as an absolute "peace disruptor", "war peddler", and "troublemaker" in the Taiwan Strait.

Chen Binhua, spokesman for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, made the remarks in response to Lai's calls for increased "defense" spending to counter "threats" from the mainland during his fourth speech in Taipei on Tuesday, which was in a series of 10 speeches he plans to give across the island on the theme of "uniting the country".

Lai said that his administration is dedicated to raising Taiwan's "defense" budget to 3 percent of GDP. During Chinese Kuomintang administrations, "defense" spending accounted for 2 percent of GDP, which steadily increased to 2.5 percent of GDP last year under his predecessor Tsai Ing-wen's administration.

Chen criticized Lai's speech, accusing him of harboring sinister intentions to seek separation with external support and using military means, deliberately fueling cross-Strait confrontation and undermining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.

Lai's advocacy of "fighting for Taiwan and the surrounding islands" was actually serving the interests of the Democratic Progressive Party and its "pro-independence" stance, sacrificing young people as pawns in his separatist agenda, he said.

The narrative of exaggerating the "mainland military threat" was indeed a cover for Lai's provocative and separatist nature. His claims of standing with democratic nations were aimed at seeking external backing by paying more "protection fees", he added.

The spokesman emphasized that "Taiwan independence" secession is the greatest disaster for Taiwan and that only by firmly opposing and effectively curbing separatist movements can peace in the Taiwan Strait be safeguarded.

He reiterated the mainland's resolute will, strong determination, and formidable capabilities, to thwart all separatist schemes and defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity.