Taiwanese coast guard warns of Chinese escalation during President Lai Ching-te's inauguration anniversary.

Taiwanese coast guard expressed concerns today, Monday, May 19, that China might exploit the first anniversary of President Tsai Ing-wen's inauguration, which falls tomorrow on Tuesday, to escalate tension and destabilize the island.
This comes after images circulated on social media showing a person planting a Chinese flag on a Taiwanese beach.
China has labeled President Tsai, who is completing a year in office, as a "separatist" and rejected his offers for dialogue, while he insists that only the people of Taiwan have the right to determine the island's fate, rejecting China's sovereignty claims.
In escalating tensions, Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council warned last week that Beijing might conduct additional military exercises to "stir up trouble" coinciding with the anniversary.
According to Reuters, images surfaced on Chinese social media platforms on Sunday showing a man claiming to have crossed the Taiwan Strait in a small boat and reached a remote beach, where he planted a Chinese flag before returning. The video was later removed.
On the other hand, Taiwanese coast guard authorities arrested two Chinese nationals on Friday who illegally entered the island on a rubber dinghy and landed on a northwestern beach.
Commenting on the incidents, Vice President of the Taiwanese coast guard, Hsieh Ching-chin, stated that China has been "seizing opportunities for a while to conduct drills and use various pressure tactics."
He added in a press conference: "It is not unlikely that the Chinese communists, on the occasion of President Tsai's inauguration anniversary, will use methods and videos similar to engage in a political war aimed at undermining our people's morale."
Hsieh revealed that the flag-planting video was actually filmed on a Taiwanese beach, but investigations are ongoing to determine whether the videographer came from China or was assisted by locals.