If China wants Taiwan, it should take back land from Russia too: Lai

If China's claims on Taiwan are about territorial integrity then it should also take back land from Russia signed over by the last Chinese dynasty in the 19th century, Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said in an interview with the island's media.

China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control. Taiwan's government rejects those claims, saying only the island's people can decide their future.

In an interview with a Taiwanese television station broadcast late on Sept 1, Mr Lai, whom China calls a "separatist", brought up the 1858 Treaty of Aigun in which China signed over to the Russian empire a vast tract of land in what is now Russia's Far East, forming much of the present-day border along the Amur River.