Taiwan's New President Lai Ching-te Faces Challenges from China and Political Gridlock at Home
On Monday, May 18, 2024, Lai Ching-te will be inaugurated as the new president of Taiwan. Born in a working-class mining family in Wanli, a small hillside village near Taiwan's north-east coast, Lai's life took an unexpected turn when his father died in a mining accident when he was just two years old. His mother was left to raise seven children alone.
Despite these challenges, Lai had aspirations of becoming the chief of the village. However, his dreams grew bigger as he became involved in politics and activism. Lai's political career began in earnest when he joined the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in 1987.
As Taiwan's new president, Lai is expected to build on some of Tsai Ing-wen's domestic reforms despite political gridlock. However, he will also inherit a strong foreign policy position that requires balancing cultivating Taiwan's unofficial alliance with the United States and maintaining peace with China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory.
The proximity of Taiwan and China is a significant geopolitical challenge. The Kinmen islands, located very close to the Chinese city of Xiamen, have military outposts near them. The distance between the winners of an annual swimming relay race between Taiwan and China is less than 90 minutes. A Chinese takeover of Kinmen might not take much longer than that.
Lai's ambiguous stance towards Taiwan gives China a vulnerability to try to exploit. However, Lai has stated that if Taiwanese soldiers left Kinmen, there would be no war. And if China ruled Kinmen?
