Democratic Progressive Party Taichung City councilors Yang Tien-chung, Lai Chia-wei, Chen Shu-hua and Ho Wen-hai, left to right, hold a sign saying: “Taiwan’s future should be decided by the people of Taiwan” at the city council yesterday.
Photo: Tang Tsai-hsin, Taipei Times

A statement by China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson Fan Liqing (范麗青) that the future of Taiwan should be decided by “all Chinese people” sparked furious responses across the nation from activists, politicians and private citizens who say the future of Taiwan can only be decided by Taiwanese.

“The remarks made by the Chinese government are no different from masturbation,” Sunflower movement leader Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆) said on his Facebook. “It’s ironic that the Chinese Communist Party [CCP] says Taiwan’s future should be decided by ‘the Chinese people,’ when ‘the Chinese people’ [in China] have been stripped of the right to choose their government.”