(Bloomberg) — Taiwan President Lai Ching-te pledged to work with other democracies around the world to stand up to China, comments likely to deepen his rift with Beijing.
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“Taiwan will try its utmost to hold the umbrella with democratic partners to protect democracies across the world from the expansion of authoritarianism,” Lai said Tuesday in a speech in Taipei. “The threat China poses to any single country is a threat to the world.”
But in a signal that he wants to preserve the status quo, the president called for fostering stable relations across the Taiwan Strait and engaging Beijing “under the principle of reciprocity, replacing confrontation with dialogue.”
Lai’s remarks underscore his commitment to resist what he sees as China’s authoritarian tendencies.
Before winning election in January, Lai indicated he’d continue many of the policies of his predecessor, Tsai Ing-wen. Tsai angered Beijing during her eight years in office by working to raise Taiwan’s profile on the world stage and building relationships with other democracies, especially Japan and the US, which backs Taipei militarily, diplomatically and politically.
‘Defense Autonomy’
Taiwan will “continue to push for defense autonomy” and weapons procurement from overseas, according to Lai. He spoke at a conference held by the the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, an organization made up of lawmakers from around the world that aims to counter China’s influence.
“Taiwan will rely on itself to keep the regional peace and stability,” he said at the first IPAC conclave held in Taiwan since the organization was founded in 2020. A cross-strait conflict could have a larger impact than either the war in Ukraine or the coronavirus pandemic, he said.
Beijing has pledged to bring Taiwan under its control eventually — by force if necessary — and has used a range of measures to show it’s vexed by Lai, a leader it suspects is pushing for independence.
It held major military drills around Taiwan’s main island shortly after he took office in May, convinced Nauru to switch diplomatic recognition and stepped up its Coast Guard activity around Taiwanese islets just off the Chinese coast.
On Monday, the Associated Press reported that China tried to convince legislators from at least six nations not to attend the IPAC conference.
IPAC condemned those Chinese efforts, saying in a statement they were “another example of their brazen efforts to curtail other nations’ democratic privileges and negate Taiwan’s rights to engage in legitimate diplomatic exchanges.”
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