Taiwan’s President Says China Poses Threat to International Order

(Bloomberg) -- Taiwan’s president will highlight the threat China poses to Asia and beyond in her national day speech Wednesday, echoing U.S. Vice President Mike Pence’s harshly worded criticism of Beijing.

President Tsai Ing-wen will seek to emphasize the destabilizing impact China is having on the world, contrasting Beijing’s behavior with her administration’s efforts to be part of a stable world order, according to a Chinese-language excerpt of her speech provided by her office Tuesday.

“We will not escalate conflicts impulsively and we will not cave in and submit to pressure from China,” Tsai will say, according to the prepared remarks. “Taiwan’s democratic transition provides a ray of light in the dark for all those seeking democracy.”

The speech comes as tensions between Beijing and both Taipei and its main security guarantor, the U.S., reach their highest in years. Tsai’s comments bare a similarity to a speech by Pence in Washington last week, in which he laid out allegations of Chinese election interference in the U.S. and lauded Taiwan’s democracy as a model for Chinese people.

Tsai will highlight that Taiwan faces Chinese threats on several fronts, including defense, diplomacy, social and economy.

"Protecting the free, democratic lifestyle of the 23 million people, safeguarding the sustainable development of Republic of China, or Taiwan, and maintaining peace in the Taiwan Strait and regional stability is the common denominator shared by all Taiwanese people," Tsai’s statement says. The Republic of China is Taiwan’s official moniker.

Independent in everything but name, Taiwan is a key source of tension between China and the U.S. China claims sovereignty over Taiwan, after the two sides split amid a civil war in 1949.

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