Lai portrayed his government as responding firmly to mainland pressure, days after Trump made anti-independence remarks
3-MIN READ3-MINLawrence Chungin TaipeiPublished: 7:01pm, 20 May 2026Beijing has accused Taiwanese leader William Lai Ching-te of “destroying cross-strait peace” shortly after he gave a speech to mark his second anniversary in power in the wake of Donald Trump’s remarks on Taiwan independence.
The State Council’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) said on Tuesday that Lai’s anniversary speech and his subsequent remarks to reporters were filled with “lies and deception, hostility and confrontation”.
Spokesman Chen Binhua said Lai had “stubbornly adhered to the erroneous stance of Taiwan independence”, and promoted what Beijing called the fallacies of “sovereign independence” and “mutual non-subordination”.
Lai had once again proven himself to be an outright “destroyer of cross-strait peace” and a “maker of Taiwan Strait crises”, Chen said.
Lai’s televised speech appeared to be aimed at addressing those concerns by portraying his administration as firm but measured in defending the island against pressure from Beijing.
