William Lai must try to ease tensions with pledge on Taiwan Strait status quo
- New leader of Taiwan, seen as a ‘troublemaker’ by Beijing, offers no surprises in his inauguration speech at a time when a pragmatic approach from both sides is required
The new leader of Taiwan, William Lai Ching-te, has pledged in his inaugural speech to maintain the status quo in relations with the mainland, and called on Beijing to jointly work for reconciliation and peace.
Beyond that, there appeared to be little more in the way of conciliatory language as he was sworn in yesterday at a Taipei ceremony for his first term as president.
He took a tougher line than his predecessor, Tsai Ing-wen, at her inauguration in 2016. She has just wrapped up two terms marked by strained relations and tensions with Beijing.
“Cross-strait peace and stability is key to the world,” said Lai, adding he hoped Beijing would work to restart bilateral tourism and exchanges for “peaceful coexistence”.
But Lai also appeared to try to rally Western support for the island, saying “we – carrying on Taiwan’s democratisation – are the helmsmen of peace”. Politicians must “resist annexation and protect sovereignty”, he said, claiming Taiwan belonged to the world.
His tone should be of little surprise. Lai represents the “deep green” hardline camp of the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party.
Beijing grew accustomed to him from his four-year tenure as Tsai’s vice-president and regards him as a “troublemaker”. Expectations of an olive branch were therefore low. Given the tensions, a call to maintain the status quo can be regarded as positive.