By Ben Blanchard
TAIPEI (Reuters) – The front-runner to become Taiwan’s next president said on Friday that the international community blames the rise in tension across the Taiwan Strait on China rather than on the island.
“The international community understands that recent tensions are not because of President Tsai or because of Taiwan, but because of China,” Taiwan Vice President William Lai told a news conference.
Lai is the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s presidential candidate for a January election and is leading in the polls. President Tsai Ing-wen cannot run again after two terms in office.
China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory, has a particular dislike of Lai for comments he made in the past about being a “worker” for Taiwan independence, though he has said on the campaign trail he would maintain the status quo and has repeatedly offered to talk to Beijing.
China staged military exercises around Taiwan on Saturday in an angry response to brief stopovers that Lai made in the United States this month, on his way to and from Paraguay.
The United States, like most countries, has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, but is the island’s most important international backer and arms supplier, which angers Beijing.
Taiwan is officially called the Republic of China, and Lai has said he does not seek to change that. Both Lai and Tsai have said that as Taiwan is already an independent country there is no need for a separate declaration of independence.
Lai said his support for maintaining the status quo across the strait was “unwavering” and vowed to ensure peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region if elected.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Writing by Sarah Wu; Editing by Edmund Klamann, Robert Birsel)
