"Dead End, Will Be Harshly Punished": China's Post-Poll Warning To Taiwan
NDTV
"No matter what the results of the election are, they cannot change the basic fact that there is only one China and Taiwan is a part of it," Wang said Sunday.
China's top diplomat warned Sunday that any steps towards Taiwan's independence would be "harshly punished" after the self-ruled island defied Beijing's warnings and chose pro-sovereignty candidate Lai Ching-te as president.
Voters on the island spurned Beijing's repeated calls not to vote for Lai, delivering a comfortable victory for a man China's ruling Communist Party sees as a dangerous separatist.
Beijing, which claims Taiwan as its territory and has never renounced force to bring it under its control, responded to Lai's victory by saying it would not change the "inevitable trend of China's reunification".
