The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities are clearly war instigators, contrary to their self-proclaimed role as "pilots for peace," a mainland spokesperson said on Wednesday.

Zhu Fenglian, a State Council Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson, made the remarks in response to a media query at a routine news conference.

The DPP authorities claim to desire peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, but in reality, they adhere to a "Taiwan independence" stance, incite cross-Strait confrontation, and advance their goal by increasingly banking on external forces and through military means, in an attempt to split Taiwan from China, said the spokesperson.

This can in no way be considered the behavior of so-called pilots for peace, said Zhu. "Rather, this is clearly the behavior of instigators of war," she added.

Lai Ching-te portrayed the DPP-ruled Taiwan as a pilot for peace, claiming to maintain the status quo across the Strait in his debut speech as Taiwan's new leader on May 20.

The mainland spokesperson reiterated that although the two sides of the Strait have not yet reunified, the fact that the mainland and Taiwan both belong to one China, and that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China, has never changed and cannot be changed.

"Taiwan independence" goes against peace in the Taiwan Strait, and it is the biggest source of chaos that leads to military conflicts, damages to the interests of the people, and turbulence in the Strait, Zhu said.

She called on people in Taiwan to recognize the harm and destructiveness of the DPP's independence agenda, oppose secessionist activities and external interference, and help with the return of cross-Strait relations to peaceful development.

This, she said, would safeguard peace and stability in the Strait, and also the security and well-being of the people of Taiwan.