At the December 10 press conference of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, a reporter asked: Lai Ching-te recently stated in an interview with The New York Times that Taiwan’s economic growth rate this year reached 7.37%. He also claimed that he would be “happy to help China and work together to solve the various economic problems China is facing,” and expressed hope that the mainland “should not think about how to expand its territory, but rather think about how to better take care of the Chinese people.” What is the spokesperson’s response?
Spokesperson Chen Binhua of the Taiwan Affairs Office replied that Lai Ching-te is talking nonsense and overestimating himself, attempting to mislead public opinion and deceive the public by playing games with numbers.
Chen Binhua stated that since the beginning of this year, the mainland’s major economic indicators have performed well. New productive forces have been actively developing, reform and opening up have continued to deepen, and the economy has demonstrated strong vitality and resilience. In the first three quarters, the mainland’s GDP exceeded 101.5 trillion yuan, an increase of 5.2% year-on-year, with growth of about 4 trillion yuan—an amount equivalent to more than 80% of Taiwan’s total annual economic output. It is expected that Taiwan’s GDP this year will be lower than that of many provinces on the mainland. “I truly don’t know where Lai Ching-te gets his confidence from,” Chen said.
Chen Binhua continued that in order to “rely on external forces to seek independence,” Lai Ching-te has been forcing cross-Strait “decoupling and supply-chain severing” in violation of economic principles, ignoring the hollowing out of Taiwan’s key industries by external forces and turning a blind eye to the serious difficulties facing Taiwan’s traditional industries. His efforts to curry favor with outside forces will only further harm Taiwan and sell out its interests.
Chen Binhua emphasized that there is only one China in the world, and Taiwan is an inseparable part of China’s territory. Resolving the Taiwan question and achieving complete national reunification is the shared aspiration of all Chinese people. The economies on both sides of the Strait are part of the same national economy. We have always upheld the concept of “both sides of the Strait are one family,” committed to strengthening cross-Strait exchanges and cooperation, deepening integrated development, and sharing with Taiwan compatriots and enterprises the opportunities brought by China’s modernization.