Editor's note: Han Bing, a special commentator on current affairs for CGTN, is an associate research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of Taiwan Studies. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

In Lai Ching-te's meticulously-staged speeches, he blatantly disregarded the historical fact that Taiwan has always been part of China since ancient times. He deliberately distorted and selectively edited historical records, cobbled together so-called evidence and tried to construct a fabricated narrative in support of "Taiwan independence." Through this false narrative, he sought to mislead the public in Taiwan and served his own political agenda of "opposing China and seeking independence." What Lai has orchestrated is essentially a self-directed, self-acted political drama promoting separatism. Yet, it's sloppily scripted, riddled with errors and filled with historical falsehoods and political manipulation. This performance lays bare his entrenched pro-independence stance and confirms his true nature as a "troublemaker", a "saboteur of peace" and a "warmonger."

Inventing a "Taiwanese history" and distorting the historical facts

From historical records and classical texts to archaeological evidence, from the administrative governance of Taiwan by successive Chinese central governments from the Song (960-1279) and Yuan (1279-1368) dynasties onward, to a series of international legal documents such as the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation, history makes it unmistakably clear that Taiwan has always been an inalienable part of China. Yet Lai Ching-te, in his recent speeches, completely denied this basic historical fact. He went to great lengths to concoct the false claim that "Taiwan has always been sovereign and independent since ancient times." He falsely claimed that China only came into contact with Taiwan in the 17th century and that prior to that, "there was no subordinate relationship between Taiwan and China." He deliberately misrepresented the recovery of Taiwan by Zheng Chenggong, a Ming Dynasty general and the subsequent Qing administration as ruled by "foreign regimes." Worse still, he invoked the illegal and invalid Treaty of San Francisco to peddle the notion of Taiwan's "undetermined status," attempting to erase the reality that both sides across the Taiwan Straits belong to one China. This is a calculated and dangerous political maneuver that aims to depict Taiwan as "terra nullius" – a land belonging to no one – and to advance the separatist agenda of so-called "Taiwan independence."

In fact, Lai's so-called "historical theory" is nothing more than a clumsy patchwork of misinterpretations, contradictions and outright falsehoods. Chinese historical texts such as the Seaboard Geographic Gazetteer contain early descriptions of the Chinese people's development of the Taiwan island. Starting in the mid-12th century, successive Chinese central governments established administrative bodies in Penghu and Taiwan, exercising adequate jurisdiction over the region. In 1895, following its defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War, the Qing government was forced to cede Taiwan and the Penghu Islands to Japan. In 1941, the Chinese government issued its Declaration of War Against Japan, making clear its intention to recover Taiwan and the Penghu Islands. On December 1, 1943, the governments of China, the United States, and the United Kingdom issued the Cairo Declaration, stating that it was the purpose of the three allies to restore all the territories Japan had stolen from China to China. In July 1945, the Potsdam Proclamation issued by China, the U.S., the UK, and the Soviet Union reiterated that "the terms of the Cairo Declaration shall be carried out." In September of the same year, Japan signed the Instrument of Surrender, in which it promised to fulfill the obligations laid down in the Potsdam Proclamation faithfully. In October, the Chinese government announced that it was resuming the exercise of sovereignty over Taiwan, and a ceremony to accept Japan's surrender in the China war theater of the Allied powers was held in Taipei. The Chinese government declared that "as of this day, Taiwan and the Penghu Islands are officially restored to Chinese territory. All lands, people and political affairs are now under the sovereignty of China." These facts leave no room for doubt: Taiwan has never been a country. It has always been and remains an inalienable part of China. This is an ironclad truth that cannot be challenged.

Inventing a "Taiwanese ethnicity" to sever cross-strait bonds

People on both sides of the Taiwan Straits are members of one family, bound by blood, sharing the same roots, heritage, language, and ancestry. Yet Lai Ching-te, in an attempt to fabricate the notion of a so-called "Taiwanese ethnicity," deliberately ignored these deep bonds of kinship. Instead, he aggressively promoted the idea of a distinct prehistoric Taiwanese culture and the Austronesian language family, trying to sever Taiwan's cultural and ethnic ties to the Chinese nation. In his speeches, Lai claimed that "Taiwan has had its own independent ecological system since ancient times" and asserted that "Taiwan is the origin of Austronesian culture," with Taiwan's "indigenous peoples" belonging to the Austronesian group, thereby implying that, geographically, culturally and ethnically, Taiwan has no connection to the Chinese mainland. To reinforce this claim, Lai even cited isolated cases such as the discovery of a "mammoth fossil" and the "Dabenkeng culture," attempting to cloak the separatist fallacy of "Taiwan independence" in academic garb. But in doing so, he ultimately exposes his own lack of historical and cultural understanding.

First, the Taiwan region in China and the Chinese mainland are closely linked geographically. It is a well-established fact that Taiwan lies in a tropical and subtropical monsoon climate zone, whereas the mammoth, a cold-climate species, is not native to the Island. The presence of mammoth fossils in Taiwan can only be explained by migration from the mainland via the now-submerged Dongshan Land Bridge. This serves as geological evidence that Taiwan is a natural extension of the continental shelf of the Chinese mainland. Second, Taiwan's early prehistoric cultures share a clear lineage with those of the southern area of the Chinese mainland. The remains of the "Zuozhen Man" discovered in Tainan County, located in the south of the Island, belong to the same late Paleolithic Homo sapiens population as the "Dongshan Man" found in Fujian Province, southeastern China. The origins of stone adzes from the Yuanshan Culture in Taiwan could be traced back to regions in Fujian and Guangdong provinces. The Neolithic Dabenkeng Culture in Taiwan exhibits apparent typological similarities with artifacts from southeastern coastal China, specifically Fujian and Guangdong. These archaeological findings strongly support the conclusion that there were deep cultural ties between the two sides of the Straits even in prehistoric times. Finally, the international academic community widely recognizes the southeastern coast of the Chinese mainland as the origin of the Austronesian language family. An increasing body of archaeological discoveries and scholarly research indicates that early inhabitants from southeastern coastal China crossed the sea to Taiwan and subsequently spread out to various islands across the South Pacific.

Betraying the "national spirit" and erasing the memory of Taiwan's recovery

This year marks the 80th anniversary of both the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the global triumph in the fight against fascism, as well as the 80th anniversary of Taiwan's recovery from Japanese occupation. Eighty years ago, after 14 years of unyielding and courageous struggle, the Chinese people defeated the brutal Japanese militarist invaders and secured a monumental victory in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. In that sweeping tide of resistance, the entire Chinese nation, including compatriots in Taiwan, stood united in the anti-Japanese sentiment and resistance against aggression. They fought not only for national survival and the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation but also for the cause of justice for all humanity, forging a great spirit of resistance with patriotism at its core.

Yet Lai Ching-te distorted and concealed this chapter of history, one in which countless people in Taiwan gave their lives in defense of their Chinese identity. He selectively extracted and manipulated historical facts to suit his political ends. He avoided any mention of the many Taiwan compatriots who, inspired by the belief that "to save Taiwan, one must first save the motherland," crossed the sea to the Chinese mainland to join the resistance efforts. He ignored the historical truth that Taiwan's recovery after Japan's defeat was a testament to the shared destiny of both sides of the Straits. Instead, Lai repackaged the sincere and straightforward patriotism of the Taiwan people, their love for the motherland, their identity as part of the Chinese nation into a false narrative of "Taiwanese defending their own country of Taiwan," attempting to cloak separatist rhetoric in the language of wartime loyalty. In doing so, he attempted to reframe Taiwan's contributions to the victory in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression as actions disconnected from the broader Chinese national struggle. His goal is clear: to sever Taiwan's role from the collective memory of the Chinese nation, to cut off the historical and emotional bonds that unite people across the Straits, and to push forward his separatist agenda. Such actions are not only a flagrant betrayal of the Chinese nation but a destructive assault on the shared spiritual home of the Chinese people on both sides of the Straits.

History is not to be tampered with. Facts cannot be denied. Truth cannot be distorted. Lai Ching-te's speeches represent a deliberate distortion of history and a betrayal of the Chinese nation. By attempting to sever, obscure and twist the well-established historical fact that Taiwan has always been part of China, his real aim is to peddle the narrative of "Taiwan independence," to incite hostility across the Straits, and to undermine peace in the Taiwan Straits. But both history and current realities have made one thing abundantly clear: The reunification of the motherland is an unstoppable trend of history. Any attempt to resist the trend of national reunification or to betray the larger cause of national unity through lies, political manipulation, or separatist rhetoric will ultimately be condemned by the people and end up on the ash heap of history.

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