China's Foreign Minister Calls Taiwan's New President 'Disgraceful'

Taiwan President Lai Ching-te waves to the crowd during the Taiwan Presidential Inauguration, in Taipei, Taiwan, 20 May 2024. (EPA)
Taiwan President Lai Ching-te waves to the crowd during the Taiwan Presidential Inauguration, in Taipei, Taiwan, 20 May 2024. (EPA)
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China's Foreign Minister Calls Taiwan's New President 'Disgraceful'

Taiwan President Lai Ching-te waves to the crowd during the Taiwan Presidential Inauguration, in Taipei, Taiwan, 20 May 2024. (EPA)
Taiwan President Lai Ching-te waves to the crowd during the Taiwan Presidential Inauguration, in Taipei, Taiwan, 20 May 2024. (EPA)

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called Taiwan's newly-inaugurated President Lai Ching-te "disgraceful" on Tuesday, stepping up Beijing's rhetoric just a day after he took office.

China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory, believes Lai to be a "separatist", and has rebuffed his offers of talks.

China's government has generally avoided directly naming Lai since he won election in January, unlike in the run-up to the vote where they regularly denounced him by name and said the election was a choice between war and peace.

Speaking at a foreign ministers meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Kazakhstan, Wang said Taiwan was the "core of core issues" for China, and independence activities the most destructive factor for peace in the Taiwan Strait.

"The ugly acts of Lai Ching-te and others who betray the nation and their ancestors is disgraceful," China's foreign ministry cited Wang as saying.

Nothing can stop China from achieving "reunification" and bringing Taiwan "back to the motherland", he added.

"All Taiwan independence separatists will be nailed to the pillar of shame in history."

Lai, like his predecessor Tsai Ing-wen, says only Taiwan's people can decide their future, rejecting Beijing's sovereignty claims.

China on Tuesday also admonished the United States for sending its congratulations to Lai, after scolding South Korean and Japanese lawmakers for visiting Taiwan despite its strong opposition.

In his inauguration address on Monday, Lai asked China to stop its military and political threats, saying that peace was the only choice and that Beijing had to respect the choice of the Taiwanese people.

Lai received loud applause after reiterating that the Republic of China - Taiwan's formal name - and the People's Republic of China are "not subordinate to each other", a line Tsai also took.

China views such wording as tantamount to saying China and Taiwan are different countries, a red line for Beijing.

China says any move by Taiwan to declare formal independence would be grounds to attack the island.

The government in Taipei says Taiwan is already an independent country, the Republic of China. The Republican government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong's communists who set up the People's Republic of China.



Grossi Wants to Meet with Iran’s Pezeshkian ‘at Earliest Convenience’

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media at the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, US, March 15, 2023. (Reuters)
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media at the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, US, March 15, 2023. (Reuters)
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Grossi Wants to Meet with Iran’s Pezeshkian ‘at Earliest Convenience’

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media at the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, US, March 15, 2023. (Reuters)
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media at the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, US, March 15, 2023. (Reuters)

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi announced he intends to visit Tehran through a letter he addressed to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

Iranian Mehr Agency reported that Grossi sent a congratulatory message to the Iranian president-elect, which stated: “I would like to extend my heartfelt congratulations to you on your election win as President of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

“Cooperation between the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Islamic Republic of Iran has been at the focal attention of the international circles for many years. I am confident that, together, we will be able to make decisive progress on this crucial matter.”

“To that effect, I wish to express my readiness to travel to Iran to meet with you at the earliest convenience,” Iran’s Mehr news agency quoted Grossi as saying.

The meeting – should it take place - will be the first for Pezeshkian, who had pledged during his election campaign to be open to the West to resolve outstanding issues through dialogue.

Last week, American and Israeli officials told the Axios news site that Washington sent a secret warning to Tehran last month regarding its fears of Iranian research and development activities that might be used to produce nuclear weapons.

In May, Grossi expressed his dissatisfaction with the course of the talks he held over two days in Iran in an effort to resolve outstanding matters.

Since the death of the former Iranian president, Ibrahim Raisi, the IAEA chief refrained from raising the Iranian nuclear file, while European sources said that Tehran had asked to “freeze discussions” until the internal situation was arranged and a new president was elected.