China’s angst deepens after Lai’s inauguration

Meanwhile

China’s angst deepens after Lai’s inauguration

Published: 21 May. 2024, 19:59

YOU SANG-CHUL
The author is the head of the China Institute of the JoongAng Ilbo and CEO of China Lab.

Lai Ching-te, 65, became Taiwan’s new president on Monday. China should be uncomfortable for a few reasons. First of all, the public sentiment in Taiwan is moving away from reunification. According to a poll released in February by the Election Research Center of National Chengchi University, only 7.4 percent of Taiwanese people want reunification.

In contrast, 25.3 percent supported independence and a majority of 61.1 percent chose to maintain the status quo. As the presidential election was conducted in this structure, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which advocates independence, easily won the presidential election.

Lai Ching-te is a more hardline supporter of independence than his predecessor, Tsai Ing-wen. He advocates the “Taiwan of the world,” not the “Taiwan of China,” in a clear objection to China’s reunification scheme. How about the future? It is bleaker for China. One can guess by looking at Hsiao Bi-khim, Lai’s running mate and the vice president. Born in 1971, Hsiao was born in Japan. Her mother is Taiwanese and her father is American.

China emphasizes that Taiwan is of the same blood. But what would Hsiao think? She might feel closer to Washington or Tokyo than Beijing. Another reason that China should feel uncomfortable is Taiwan’s democratization. Lai said that his election victory means “Taiwan standing on the side of democracy between democracy and authoritarianism.” He also said Taiwan would be shoulder to shoulder with democratic allies internationally. He added he would open the future of Taiwan by respecting the wills of 23 million Taiwanese people.

This is criticism on China, which is moved not by its 1.4 billion people but the will of the Communist Party’s members that make up less than 10 percent. Lai showed the pattern of a mature democratic state in the cabinet composition. Former lawyer Wellington Koo Li-hsiung was appointed as defense minister. A civilian is in charge of national defense of Taiwan, as Lai recognizes national defense not as a mere military issue but a political issue. Moreover, he chose Lin Chia-lung, a former scholar who studied villager autonomy in China, as the foreign minister. Beijing thought that Taiwan’s democratization road map would be a serious threat to the Chinese Communist Party’s power dominance. Watching Lai’s inauguration, the mind of the Communist Party might not be so different from 20 years ago.