Taiwan says its people won't choose dictatorship

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen speaks while visiting Lam Wing-kee (R), a bookseller from Hong Kong who in 2015 was detained in China for allegedly bringing banned books into the mainland, at ‘Causeway Bay Books' bookstore in Taipei. AFP/Taiwan’s Presidential Office

Taiwan's people will neither choose dictatorship nor bow to violence, the government said on Friday, after a senior Chinese general said Beijing reserved the right to use force to prevent the Chinese-claimed island becoming independent.

Beijing's threats of war go against international law, Taiwan's China policymaking Mainland Affairs Council said in a statement.