President Tsai Ing-wen has reiterated that eace is the only option across the
Taiwan Strait, and Taiwan is willing to work out "a path to peaceful
coexistence" with Beijing

During her National Day speech, she also says Taiwan is willing to "develop
with the Beijing authorities a mutually acceptable foundation for
interaction" provided that "the Taiwan public consensus" is respected.

However, Tsai did not elaborate on what such a pubic consensus entailed
during her speech at a ceremony marking the National Day of the Republic of
China.

While noting that cross-Taiwan Strait relations have seen "drastic changes"
over the past seven years, Tsai says her administration has "kept its
promises and maintained the status quo."

Tsai, who'll step down in May next year, says her administration has not
provoked China nor acted rashly when it came to cross-strait relations since
she took office in 2016.

On improving its defense capabilities, Tsai has touted the newly launched,
locally made submarine as a "big step forward" in Taiwan's ambitions to
achieve greater defense self-sufficiency and further enhance its asymmetric
capabilities.

The main opposition KMT's presidential nominee Hou Yu-ih, attended a separate
National Day ceremony hosted by the New Taipei City government, where he was
joined by former President Ma Ying-jeou.