MOFA hits out at the Taiwan Affairs Office (screenshot from twitter.com/MOFA_Taiwan) MOFA hits out at the Taiwan Affairs Office (screenshot from twitter.com/MOFA_Taiwan)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) - In a response to derogative comments from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) about President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) on Thursday tweeted a description of the Chinese government officials as “lunatics."

On Wednesday, the TAO had used its regular news conference to launch another attack on Tsai, whom it compared to a negative female character in a Chinese opera, the Liberty Times reported.

One day later, in a tweet signed with Foreign Minister Joseph Wu’s (吳釗燮) initials, MOFA struck back, referring to the TAO as “GTB lunatics,” using the abbreviation of the Chinese government body’s Chinese name, Guotaiban (國台辦).

“#Taiwan is a front-line state defending freedom & the democratic way of life. We’ll keep fighting hard against state-level interference, infiltration, disinformation, military threats, international assaults, wumao, GTB lunatics & African swine fever,” read.

“Wumao” or “50 cents” is a reference to people writing pro-Chinese propaganda in online comments for payment.