A Chinese military spokesman on Friday strongly condemned Taiwan leader Lai Ching-te for his recent actions, accusing him of betraying the interests of Taiwan people by courting the United States in pursuit of secession.
At a press conference in Beijing, Zhang Xiaogang, spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense, responded to a media query regarding recent visits by U.S. congressional lawmakers to the Taiwan region and Lai's provocative remarks.
"Taiwan is a part of China. There is no such a thing as 'defense budget' for Taiwan region. Lai Ching-te, driven by the selfish separatist agenda, squandered hard-earned money of people in Taiwan to fawn on the United States. This is nothing but a treacherous act of selling out Taiwan, bringing disaster to the island, and pushing Taiwan towards the danger of military conflict. Certain forces in the United States are ripping Taiwan off, and care nothing about the safety of Taiwan. All they truly care about is making more money and even profiting from the war," Zhang said.
"We warn the DPP authorities that soliciting U.S. support for secession will not bring security, and resisting reunification through military buildup are doomed to fail. We urge the United States to immediately cease all forms of military contacts with the Taiwan region, stop sending wrong messages to Taiwan separatist forces, and stop undermining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait," he added.
DPP authorities' attempt to court U.S. for secession doomed to fail: spokesman
Chinese shares held firm above key levels on Friday, with the Shenzhen Component Index and the ChiNext Index closing higher despite lingering Middle East tensions, reported Timothy Pope, a market analyst for China Global Television Network (CGTN).
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.1 percent to 4,051.43 points. The Shenzhen Component Index closed 0.6 percent higher at 14,885.42 points, while the ChiNext Index, tracking China's Nasdaq‑style board of growth enterprises, gained 1.43 percent to 3,678.29.
"Despite the release of the big-ticket economic data this week, the Middle East conflict is still the thing is moving markets the most unsurprisingly. But hopes of fresh peace talks which have emerged this week have really countered the 'everyone blockade the Strait of Hormuz' theme, which started the week. The Shanghai Composite Index was fractionally lower today, but it regained the key 4000-point level on Thursday and is still sitting above that mark now. The Shenzhen Composite Index too regained highs not seen since early 2022 - it's nearing 15,000 points as of today's close," Pope said.
"The stronger than expected GDP figures did also play a part in those gains. And what I think is really important to remember is that the 5 percent real GDP growth was managed without China being in a housing boom, so it does indicate that the shift to a more quality-driven growth model is underway. And as far as individual stocks go, we had some fairly strong performances as well. CATL continued its run of gains today, the big battery maker, that was after some very strong financial results released on Tuesday. Q1 revenue was up more than 52 percent and net profit up 48 percent to more than 20 billion yuan (about 2.9 billion U.S. dollars), that was ahead of analyst expectations," he said.
Chinese shares hold firm above key levels despite Middle East tensions
