Taiwan president wants exchanges with China, sees lack of goodwill

TAIPEI (Reuters) -Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said on Wednesday that he welcomed equal, dignified, healthy and orderly exchanges with China, but wondered whether there was goodwill from Beijing given what he said was their blocking of simple things like tourism.

Lai, who took office in May, has regularly offered talks with China but been rebuffed. China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and detests Lai as a “separatist”. He says only Taiwan’s people can decide their future.

Speaking at a New Year’s day news conference, Lai said China was blocking normal interactions with restrictions on Chinese tourists visiting or students studying on the island, while similar bans do not apply to Taiwanese going to China.

“But I still want to stress this: Taiwan hopes to have healthy and orderly exchanges with China under the principles of reciprocity and dignity,” he said.

Journalists should ask China why its citizens can freely travel to countries like the United States and Japan, but has all these controls when it comes to Taiwan, Lai added.

“Is this really showing goodwill towards Taiwan? Can’t they treat everyone equally?”

Taiwan and China have repeatedly traded accusations about tourism and travel restrictions. In June, Taiwan told its citizens not to go to China unless absolutely necessary, following a threat from Beijing to execute those deemed “diehard” Taiwan independence supporters.

Chinese President Xi Jinping said in his New Year’s speech on Tuesday that no one can stop China’s “reunification” with Taiwan.

China’s military operates around Taiwan on a daily basis, and last year staged two rounds of war games near the island.

Lai said that the greater the threat from authoritarian countries the more democracies should unite, and pointed to China and Russia’s militaries operating together in the Indo-Pacific.

The cooperation between democracies needed to be on defence and security and strengthening the “democratic supply chain”, he said.

“If that is not done properly, it will impact economies and industries for all countries, and the lives of people in democracies,” Lai said.

“I really hope that in the New Year, democratic countries can be even more united, and achieve the aims of peace, democracy and prosperity.”

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Kim Coghill and Neil Fullick)