Beijing slams Lai as ‘destroyer’ of peace after leader’s anniversary speech

Beijing has accused Taiwanese leader William Lai Ching-te of “destroying cross-strait peace” shortly after he gave a speech to mark his second anniversary in power in the wake of Donald Trump’s remarks on Taiwan-independence" class="entity-link entity-topic" data-entity-id="127684" data-entity-type="topic">Taiwan independence.The State Council’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) said on Tuesday that Lai’s anniversary speech and his subsequent remarks to reporters were filled with “lies and deception, hostility and confrontation”.Spokesman Chen Binhua said Lai had “stubbornly adhered to the erroneous stance of Taiwan-independence" class="entity-link entity-topic" data-entity-id="127684" data-entity-type="topic">Taiwan independence”, and promoted what Beijing called the fallacies of “sovereign independence” and “mutual non-subordination”.