Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te (C) and Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (R) wave alongside outgoing President Tsai Ing-wen (L) during the inauguration ceremony at the Presidential Office Building in Taipei on May 20, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Lai Ching-te took office as Taiwan’s new President on May 20, facing an angry and deeply suspicious China that believes he is a “separatist”, and a fractious parliament with an Opposition champing at the bit to challenge him.

Mr. Lai was sworn in at the Japanese-colonial-era presidential office in central Taipei, taking over from Tsai Ing-wen, having served as her Vice President for the past four years.

Mr. Lai will express goodwill towards China in his inauguration speech on May 20 morning, and call for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to pursue peace, according to a senior official briefed on the matter.

Beijing views proudly democratic Taiwan as its own territory and has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control. Mr. Lai has offered talks, which have been rebuffed, and has been said that only Taiwan’s people can decide their future.

Taiwan has faced ongoing pressure from China, including regular air force and navy activities close to the island, since January’s election victory by Mr. Lai, who is 64 and widely known by his English name, William.

In attendance at the ceremony are former U.S. officials dispatched by President Joe Biden, lawmakers from countries including Japan, Germany and Canada, and leaders from some of the 12 countries that still maintain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, such as Paraguay President Santiago Pena.

Last week, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said Mr. Lai, who it called the “Taiwan region’s new leader” had to make a clear choice between peaceful development or confrontation.

His domestic challenges loom large too, given his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lost its parliamentary majority in the January election.

On May 17, lawmakers punched, shoved and screamed at each other in a bitter dispute over parliamentary reforms the opposition was pushing. There could be more fighting on May 21 when lawmakers resume their discussions.

Chairman of Taiwan People’s Communist Party Lin Te-wang (centre) seen during a protest. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Prosecutors in Taiwan have indicted two leaders of the island’s tiny Taiwan People’s Communist Party on accusations they colluded with China in an effort to influence next year’s elections for President and members of the legislative assembly.

Party chairman Lin Te-wang and vice-chairman Chen Chien-hsin were accused on October 3 of violating the Anti-Infiltration Act and the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act after having accepted funds and other benefits from China’s ruling Communist Party, the official Central News Agency said. It wasn’t clear whether the two men were in Taiwan when the indictments were issued.

Taiwan will elect a new President and legislators in January, and Beijing is suspected of seeking to boost the chances of politicians favouring political unification between the sides through social media and the free press and by bankrolling candidates it favours. Current Vice-President William Lai, whose Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) strongly backs maintaining Taiwan’s current status of de-facto independence from China, is leading in most polls.

A one-time ranking member of the pro-unification opposition Nationalist Party, Lin founded the Taiwan People’s Communist Party in 2017 and has maintained close ties with China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, a Cabinet-level agency dedicated to pursuing China’s unification agenda.

“Lin failed twice in bids for local government council seats and staged protests against a visit by then-speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi last year, all allegedly funded by China,” CNA reported. “He also allegedly worked as an advisor to the local Taiwan Affairs Office in China’s Shandong province,” CNA said.

No word of the indictments appeared on the party’s Facebook page and calls to its listed phone number in the southern city of Taiwan said it had been disconnected.

China’s Taiwan Affairs Office condemned the indictments on Tuesday, accusing the ruling DPP of “making unjustified moves against those who advocate peaceful reunification across the Taiwan Strait,” and saying the actions were “made with malicious intentions,” China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported.

In their pursuit of Taiwan’s formal independence, the DPP and unidentified “separatist forces” have abused the law to suppress those advocating unification with China, office spokesperson Zhu Fenglian said.

“Such despicable acts will surely be strongly condemned and resolutely opposed by people on both sides of the Strait,” Zhu was quoted as saying.

Despite close cultural and economic ties between the two sides, surveys show the vast majority of Taiwanese oppose accepting rule under China’s authoritarian one-party system, which crushes all opposition and any form of criticism while maintaining an aggressive foreign policy toward the United States and other key Taiwanese allies.