Mainland slams Lai Ching-te's 'Taiwan independence' remarks

China's Foreign Ministry on Monday issued a sharp rebuke against recent comments made by Taiwan's regional leader Lai Ching-te, accusing him of putting on a "performative act" to cover up his true separatist intentions.

Speaking at a regular news conference, Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said that Lai's remarks exposed his stubborn insistence on pursuing "Taiwan independence", as well as his separatist nature and intentions.

Reiterating that there is only one China in the world, Guo said, "Taiwan has never been a country - it was not in the past, and it will certainly never be one in the future."

He emphasized that both sides of the Strait belong to one China, which he described as the true status quo in the Taiwan Strait. The spokesman condemned the Lai authorities for colluding with external forces and attempting to internationalize the Taiwan question, calling it "the biggest saboteur of the status quo and the greatest source of instability" in the region.