Taiwan’s newly inaugurated president, William Lai, has urged China to abandon its threat against Taiwan and accept that it is a democratic nation. However, he has said that he will continue the policy of confrontation and avoid antagonizing China, and he is a bit less antagonistic than his forerunner.
Lai called on Beijing to abandon its muscular approach of using threats in favor of dialogue. However, he vowed that the island would not compromise in this regard and would resist China’s increasingly aggressive posture on the situation in the Taiwan Strait. China responded with the following statement: “Taiwan independence serves as a dead end for all of them.
Lai’s timid policy is viewed as a follow-up to former leader Tsai Ing-wen’s stated strategy of military buildup and courting major allies like America and Japan to prevent China from intending to invade Taiwan.
The new president’s approach of trying to be extra friendly with everyone also covers his American audience, as Taiwan’s allies are closely monitoring whether this language will result in Taiwan being in more danger than it already is. But there are domestic issues Lai has to deal with, such as a divided parliament and economic issues, to name a few, which will put Lai leadership to the test.
Nevertheless his relationship with China is going to be the key factor of his presidency as formal interactions between the two has not been possible since 2016.
