A Chinese mainland spokeswoman on Tuesday slammed Taiwan's deputy leader Lai Ching-te for spreading remarks pursuing "Taiwan Independence" in a recent interview with Bloomberg.

Lai, the island's ruling Democratic Progressive Party's 2024 leadership candidate, claimed "Taiwan is already a sovereign, independent country" in an interview released Tuesday while he is on a seven-day trip to Paraguay, stopping in the United States on his way.

Lai arrived in the United States over the weekend for a "transit" on his way to Paraguay. He was scheduled to make another stopover in the US on his way back to Taiwan.

Zhu Fenglian, the spokeswoman for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, said Lai was using his trip to the US to promote his separatist idea of "Taiwan Independence".

She said it showed that Lai is a complete worker for "Taiwan independence" and a "troublemaker" whose claims of pursuing "peace" are nothing but a lie.

She added that politicians like Lai will only bring harm and danger to Taiwan.