China accused Taiwan President William Lai on Monday of "heresy", hostility and provocation, after a speech in which he said the island, "of course" is a country and has historical and legal evidence to support it, Reuters reported, BTA reported.
Beijing says democratically-ruled Taiwan is "sacred" Chinese territory that has belonged to China since ancient times, and that the island is one of its provinces that has no right to be called a country.
Lai and his government categorically reject this view and have repeatedly offered talks with China, but have been rejected.
China calls Lai a separatist.
China's Taiwan Affairs Office responded to Lai's speech yesterday by saying that he deliberately distorted history to promote his program for Taiwan independence, and that the island has never been a country.
"This was a declaration of "Taiwan independence" that openly incites confrontation," the statement said, adding that the Taiwanese president's words were "a mixture of fallacies and heresies about "Taiwan independence", full of errors and omissions".
"The fallacies fabricated by Lai Chin-te (William Lai - ed. note) that are contrary to history, reality and jurisprudence will go to the dustbin of history."
Lai has repeatedly stated that only the people of Taiwan can decide their future and that since the People's Republic of China has never ruled the island, Beijing has no right to speak on its behalf, recalls Reuters.