President Tsai Ing-wen posted a series of four pictures to her Twitter account on Thursday night, titling her post “This is my response to those who doubt Taiwan’s existence.”
Each picture shows Tsai interacting with members of the public and is superimposed with quotes taken from a speech that Tsai gave at the Indo-Pacific Leaders’ Dialogue－a webinar hosted by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
The first picture insists that “Taiwan is Taiwan” and that the country has its own “military and democratic institutions, none of which have ever been under Beijing’s jurisdiction.”
The second picture’s caption says that “The future of Taiwan is to be decided by the people of Taiwan.”
The third picture says that Taiwan “is open to discussions with China, as long as they contribute to a beneficial relationship.”
The fourth, and final, photo says “It is important that such discussions with China are based on the four principles: that is peace, parity, democracy, and dialogue.”