Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te vows to resist Chinese threats to sovereignty in national address

Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te said Thursday that his government would resist any attempt at forced annexation, in a closely watched National Day address that brought an immediate — and furious — reaction from China.

Mr. Lai, whose ruling Democratic Progressive Party has leaned toward independence, said Taiwan’s citizens would chart their future political course, despite vows by China’s communist regime to one day claim sovereignty over the island democracy of more than 22 million people.

“On this land, democracy and freedom are growing and thriving,” Mr. Lai said, as the capital, Taipei, staged a major celebration to mark the day. “The People’s Republic of China has no right to represent Taiwan.”

While saying his government did not rule out cooperating with China on global issues such as climate change, Mr. Lai, who was elected in January to succeed former party President Tsai Ing-wen, vowed to “uphold the commitment to resist annexation or any encroachment upon our sovereignty.”

Those are likely fighting words for Chinese President Xi Jinping, who U.S. intelligence analysts say has ordered his military to be capable of taking the island by force by 2027.

China showed its displeasure rhetorically and literally, flying 15 military aircraft on Thursday morning across the once-respected median line in the Taiwan Strait and forcing Taipei to scramble jets and activate missile systems, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said in a statement.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning, in remarks to reporters in Beijing, accused Mr. Lai of exacerbating tensions in the region to boost his political standing and insisted that Taiwan has “no so-called sovereignty,” the BBC reported.

Attempts to resist eventual unification with the mainland will lead to a “dead end,” she warned.

Taiwan’s National Day, also known by its calendar date as “Ten-Ten,” commemorates the establishment of the Republic of China on the mainland after the 1911 revolution overthrew the Qing dynasty. The republic’s leaders took refuge in Taiwan after being defeated by Mao Zedong’s communists in China’s civil war.

Thursday’s sharp exchanges come even as most Taiwanese said this week in a new survey that they did not expect a Chinese invasion in the near future.

A poll released Wednesday by the island democracy’s leading defense think tank found that few Taiwanese anticipate a Chinese invasion through 2029, Reuters news agency reported.

Despite an increasing tempo of military drills and incursions by China’s military in recent months, a survey of 1,200 Taiwanese residents conducted by the Institute for National Defense and Security Research showed that 61% of people say it is “unlikely or very unlikely” that China would attack Taiwan. That finding came even as the poll also found that China’s “territorial ambitions” represent “a serious threat” to the island.

The poll also found that more than 67% of respondents say they would fight if China attacked, but respondents were split almost evenly on whether Taiwan’s massively outnumbered and outgunned armed forces could defend their island.

Just 52% of those polled said the U.S. military would intervene in the event of a Chinese attack.

Mr. Lai said in his speech that his government is determined to build up Taiwan’s civil and military assets to resist outside pressure as it charts its political future.

“The more Taiwanese persevere, the stronger global democracy becomes. The more resilient Taiwanese are, the more global democracy endures,” he said in his address.

China has made a concerted effort to pressure the handful of nations that officially recognize the Taiwanese government. The Taiwan News reported Thursday that 14 official delegations and more than 90 representatives of diplomatic missions to Taipei were part of the guest list for the Lai speech.

• Andrew Salmon in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this story.