People’s Daily accuses Taiwan’s William Lai of pushing independence narrative

Communist Party mouthpiece blasts the island’s leader after he commemorates anniversary of 1949 battle between Kuomintang and PLA

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Taiwanese leader William Lai Ching-te (centre) attends a ceremony to mark the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Kinmen on the island of Quemoy on Friday. Photo: CNA

Published: 6:06pm, 31 Oct 2024Updated: 7:38pm, 31 Oct 2024

People’s Daily published a commentary on Thursday that vowed to uproot the “historical narrative of Taiwan independence” – a line it said has been pushed by Taiwanese leader William Lai Ching-te.

The warning came after Lai used the Friday anniversary of Taiwan’s return to China from imperial Japan after World War II to commemorate a 1949 conflict between Taiwan and the mainland instead.

The commentary, published in the Communist Party mouthpiece, criticised Lai for not commemorating Taiwan’s retrocession and for “repeatedly advocating and glorifying” Dutch and Japanese colonial rule of Taiwan.

It said Lai’s independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) had implemented “cultural Taiwan independence” by creating a “historical narrative of Taiwan independence” as well as “severing the historical and cultural bloodlines between the mainland and Taiwan and promoting hostility and confrontation” through a “gradual and soft” approach.

The commentary added that neither “radical” nor “gradual” independence for Taiwan had a future, adding that either approach would “inevitably come with a heavy price”.

Last Friday was the anniversary of the day in 1945 when China’s Kuomintang government took over Taiwan and its dependent islands from Japan, which had lost World War II.