China accuses Taiwan president of ‘prostituting’ himself after Trump comments

Taiwan’s president giving key national day speech on Friday as government rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims

China has launched a scathing attack on Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te, accusing him of "prostituting" himself to foreigners in a bid to curry favour, following an interview where he praised Donald Trump.

Beijing, which considers democratically-governed Taiwan its own territory, expressed its strong disapproval, stating that Mr Lai’s "schemes are doomed to fail".

The Chinese government holds a particular disdain for President Lai, labelling him a "separatist" and consistently rejecting his offers for talks. Mr Lai, however, maintains that only the people of Taiwan have the right to determine their future.

In an interview released this week on a conservative US radio show and podcast, President Lai suggested that Donald Trump should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize if he could persuade Chinese President Xi Jinping to abandon the use of force against Taiwan. Mr Trump and Mr Xi are anticipated to meet later this month at a regional summit in South Korea.

Responding to the interview, which also touched upon China's military threats and Taiwan's increased defence spending, China's Taiwan Affairs Office dismissed Mr Lai’s remarks as "spouting nonsense". The office further asserted that the comments revealed his true nature as a "manufacturer of crises and destroyer of peace", adding that since taking office last year, Mr Lai has been "rampantly propagating separatist fallacies".

Helicopters carries Taiwan's national flag during a rehearsal for the country’s National Day celebrations (REUTERS)

Using unusually strong wording, the statement added: "He has engaged in unprincipled foreign pandering and bottomless selling out of Taiwan, squandering the flesh and blood of the people, prostituting himself and throwing in his lot with foreign forces".

There was no immediate response from Taiwan's government.

The Chinese statement said efforts to seek independence through relying on foreign forces were doomed to fail.

"Lai Ching-te and the 'Taiwan independence' forces are but ants shaking a tree: they will ultimately be swept into the dustbin of history," it added.

The statement also comes just two days before Lai gives his key national day speech on Friday.

China, which has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control, staged a day of war games around the island last year shortly after that same event in what it said was a warning to "separatist acts".

Lai says that the Republic of China - Taiwan's formal name - and the People's Republic of China are "not subordinate to each other".

The Republic of China government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong's communists. No peace treaty has ever been signed and neither government officially recognises the other to this day.