Why Beijing is outraged over Taiwan’s Lai honouring WWII-era Japanese engineer

Why Beijing is outraged over Taiwan’s Lai honouring WWII-era Japanese engineer

Beijing has strongly criticised Taiwanese leader William Lai Ching-te for paying tribute to a figure from Japan’s colonial era in Taiwan. In a commentary published on Sunday, Communist Party mouthpiece the People’s Daily accused Lai, from Taiwan’s independence-leaning ruling Democratic Progressive Party, of “forgetting his ancestors” and reaching a new low in “ingratiating himself with Japan”. The denunciation followed Lai’s attendance at a memo…