China slams Taiwan president over 'country' speech

China on Monday slammed Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te over a speech in which he said the island was “clearly a country,” saying his “fallacies” would be “swept into the dustbin of history,” state media reported.

- 

Beijing says democratically-governed Taiwan is “sacred” Chinese territory that has belonged to China since ancient times, and that the island is one of its provinces with no right to be called a state.

Lai and his government strongly reject that view, and have offered talks with China multiple times but have been rejected. China calls Lai a separatist.

Lai, a staunch defender of Taiwan's sovereignty and detested by Beijing, said in a speech on Sunday that “Taiwan is clearly a country,” as he kicked off a tour aimed at “uniting” the self-ruled island.