Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te on Monday launched a blistering attack on Beijing, declaring that China’s aggressive reaction to recent Japanese statements has “severely impacted” peace and stability across the entire Asia-Pacific region, effectively branding the People’s Republic of China as the primary destabilising force in one of the world’s most volatile hotspots.

Speaking directly to reporters in Taipei, Lai demanded that China immediately “show restraint, behave like a responsible major power, and stop acting as the troublemaker of the region,” warning that Beijing’s pattern of military coercion and diplomatic bullying is pushing neighbours closer together and risking a wider conflict that no one wants.

The explosive diplomatic crisis was triggered last week when Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi publicly stated that Tokyo would seriously consider direct military intervention in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, shattering decades of carefully maintained strategic ambiguity and sending shockwaves through Beijing’s foreign ministry.

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China, which continues to claim self-governed democratic Taiwan as its sovereign territory and has repeatedly vowed to annex it by force if necessary, responded with fury, summoning Japan’s ambassador and accusing Tokyo of “gross interference” in its internal affairs while stepping up warplane sorties and naval drills around the island.

Despite officially recognising only “One China” and maintaining no formal diplomatic ties with Taipei, Japan has deepened security, economic and cultural links with Taiwan in recent years — ties rooted in the island’s half-century under Japanese colonial rule from 1895 to 1945 — and President Lai made clear that Taipei welcomes any country willing to stand up to Beijing’s threats, urging China to return to a rules-based international order if it truly wants regional prosperity.

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