Communist China not the motherland, says Taiwan’s president, because our republic is older

Lai Ching-te argues the reverse may be true because the Republic of China - the mantle that nationalists carried with them to Taiwan - predates the People's Republic

It is impossible" for the People's Republic of China to become Taiwan's motherland because Taiwan has older political roots, the island's president has said.

Lai Ching-te, who took office in May, is condemned by Beijing as a separatist. He rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims, saying the island is a country called the Republic of China that traces its origins back to the 1911 revolution overthrowing the last imperial dynasty.