Lai Ching-te was inaugurated on Monday as Taiwan’s fifth directly elected president.
In his first speech as president, Lai called on the Chinese government in Beijing to hold talks with him to maintain the uneasy peace prevailing across the Taiwan Strait, a narrow stretch of water that separates the island from the mainland. Predictably, China rejected this overture, calling him a “troublemaker” and denouncing his comments as “inciting antagonism and confrontation.”
Neither Lai nor his supporters – and Taiwan’s supporters – should be intimidated by China. Taiwan is not an independent country, but it is also not a “renegade province,” as Chinese leaders insist. It is a thriving democracy with 23 million people who should not be subject to the coercion and threats that Beijing is brandishing with increasing frequency and intensity. They deserve our support, both morally and materially.
