Taiwan will keep reinforcing its defence so that no Taiwanese will be forced to bow down to the path that China has laid down which doesn't have any freedom and democracy, President Tsai Ing-Wen said on the Taiwanese national day, in a strong counter to Beijing.
As per the Reuters report, the island country of Taiwan has always been claimed by China as its own. This claim has led Taiwan under a lot of military as well as political pressure to accept China's authority, such as repeated Chinese air force missions in Taiwan's air defence identification zone
Earlier on Saturday, China's President Xi Jinping had said to attain a "peaceful reunification" with Taiwan. In response to his statement, Taepi gave a strong reaction thus clearly directing that only the Taiwanese will decide their own future and not China.
While addressing the rally on the occasion of Taiwanese national day, President Tsai said that Taiwan will not act rashly. She further says that however "there should be absolutely no illusions that the Taiwanese people will bow to pressure."
"We will continue to bolster our national defence and demonstrate our determination to defend ourselves in order to ensure that nobody can force Taiwan to take the path China has laid out for us," Tsai was quoted by Reuters in its report.
"This is because the path that China has laid out offers neither a free and democratic way of life for Taiwan, nor sovereignty for our 23 million people," she further adds.
(With inputs from Reuters)