China views Taiwan as a renegade province and has never renounced the use of force to take it one day. In a statement on Thursday, China's Taiwan Affairs Office said if Lai "comes to power, he will further push for 'Taiwan independence' separatist activities [and create] turbulence in the Taiwan Strait." Lai, who had once called himself a "pragmatic worker for Taiwan's independence," has taken a softer line on the issue on the campaign trail. "Accepting China's 'one-China' principle is not true peace," he added, referring to Beijing's doctrine that Taiwan is a part of China. Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a recent address that unifying Taiwan with China was an "inevitability."
