Autocracy is ‘evil’, says Taiwan’s president after China threatened death over separatism

By Ben Blanchard

TAIPEI (Reuters) – Democracy is not a crime and autocracy is the real “evil”, Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said on Monday, after China threatened to impose the death penalty in extreme cases against “diehard” Taiwanese independence separatists.

China, which views Taiwan as its own territory, has made no secret of its antipathy towards Lai, who took office last month, labelling him a “separatist” and staging war games shortly after his inauguration.

On Friday, China increased its pressure on Taiwan by issuing new legal guidelines to punish those it sees as supporting the island’s formal independence, although Chinese courts have no jurisdiction on the democratically governed island.

When asked about China’s actions at a press conference in the presidential office in Taipei, Lai first expressed his sympathy for the recent floods in southern China before answering.

“I want to stress: democracy is not a crime; the real evil is autocracy. China has absolutely no right to sanction the people of Taiwan just because of the positions they hold. Moreover, China has no right to attack the rights of the people of Taiwan across borders,” he said.

From China’s perspective, anyone who does not support “reunification” is a supporter of Taiwan’s independence, Lai added.

“I would also like to call on China to confront the existence of the Republic of China and engage in dialogue with Taiwan’s democratically elected, legitimate government,” he said, using Taiwan’s official name. “If this does not happen, relations between Taiwan and China will only become more alienated.”

Lai rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims and says only Taiwan’s people can decide its future. He has repeatedly offered talks to China but has been rebuffed.

China says any attempt by Taiwan to officially declare its independence would be grounds for an attack on the island.

The government in Taipei says Taiwan is already an independent country, the Republic of China, and it has no plans to change that. The republican government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war to Mao Zedong’s communists.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Gerry Doyle)