Delivering a speech on October 10, Taiwan’s National Day, President Tsai Ing-wen pledged to defend the island’s democracy despite increasing pressure from Beijing, while also assuring Taiwan that her government is working to better diplomatic relations with China. Cross-strait tensions have been especially high…
Delivering a speech on October 10, Taiwan’s National Day, President Tsai Ing-wen pledged to defend the island’s democracy despite increasing pressure from Beijing, while also assuring Taiwan that her government is working to better diplomatic relations with China. Cross-strait tensions have been especially high since Tsai and her Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won landslide electoral victories in January 2016. Tsai has refused to fully recognize the “1992 Consensus” and related “one China” principle, to which Beijing has responded by suspending informal cross-strait diplomatic channels, lobbied for Taipei to be excluded at high-profile international policy events, and praised the severing of ties between other governments and Taipei (a trend it has encouraged with generous foreign investments). Tensions were further stoked late last month when Taiwan’s new premier William Lai Ching-te made pro-independence remarks in his first administrative report to parliament. Reuters’ Fabian Hamacher reports on President Tsai’s address:
Tsai, who has pledged to maintain peace with China, said her government was still seeking breakthroughs in ties with Beijing and promised consistent and stable policies. “We need to remember democracy and freedom were rights obtained through all of Taiwan people’s countless efforts,” Tsai said. “Therefore, we need to use all our power to defend Taiwan’s democratic and freedom values and lifestyle,” she said. […] “We have offered our greatest goodwill,” she said in her 20-minute address. “I have repeatedly said, our goodwill doesn’t change, our promises don’t change; we won’t walk on the old path of confrontation, but we won’t bow to pressure,” Tsai said.
