THE China considers its annexation and “elimination”. Taiwan its great national cause, said today President of Taiwan Lai Ching-tetelling cadets at Taiwan’s largest military academy to know their enemy and not give in to defeatism.

China considers Taiwan its province and President Lai has been under constant personal attacks since taking office last month, with Beijing calling him an “autonomist”. China conducted large-scale drills surrounding the island immediately after his inauguration.

Lai says only the Taiwanese people can decide their future and has repeatedly suggested talks in Beijing, which the other side rejects.

Speaking to Kaohsiungin the southern part of the island, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Military Academy Whampoa, Lai he emphasized that today’s cadets must familiarize themselves with the challenges of the “new era”.

“The biggest challenge is to deal with the strong rise of China, which is destroying the status quo in Taiwan Strait and considers the annexation of Taiwan and the elimination of the Republic of China a great refreshing cause of its people,” he said, using Taiwan’s official name.

The Taiwan Affairs Office in China did not respond when Reuters tried to reach it by phone for comment on Lai’s remarks.

THE Wang Huning, fourth in the ruler’s hierarchy Communist Party of Chinasaid yesterday Saturday at a forum in China on relations with Taiwan, stressing that “reunification is a historical necessity for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation,” pledging to “smash any separatist conspiracy.”

Lai, at the event attended by senior military officials and also the top US diplomat in Kaohsiung, Neil Gibsonstressed to the cadets that they must defend Taiwan, not allow it to be annexed by China, insisting that the island’s future can only be decided by its people.

“We really need to be able to distinguish ourselves from our enemies and between friends and enemies, and we can never accept the defeatism of ‘the first battle is the last battle,'” Lai said, referring to the theory that Taiwan would collapse if China launched an attack.

China says any move by Taiwan to formally declare independence would trigger a military operation. The current government in Taipei insists that Taiwan is already an independent country, the Republic of China, and that it has no plans to change that.