TAIPEI: Taiwan’s new president has said he is still ready to work with China, despite this week’s military drills around the self-ruled island.

After Lai Ching-te was sworn in, Chinese warships and fighter jets encircled Taiwan during the two-day drills that China said were a test of its ability to seize the island.

Lai told reporters on Sunday that he wanted Taiwan and China to ‘jointly shoulder the important responsibility of regional stability’. “I also look forward to enhancing mutual understanding and reconciliation through exchanges and cooperation with China... and moving towards a position of peace and common prosperity,” he said at an event in Taipei.

Communications between China and Taiwan were severed in 2016 after former president Tsai Ing-wen took office, pledging to defend Taiwan’s sovereignty.

US lawmakers to meet Taiwan’s new president today

Lai, who comes from the same Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) as Tsai, has vowed to maintain her policies of building up Taiwan’s defence capabilities, while remaining open to dialogue with China and strengthening relations with the island’s partners — particularly the United States.

But China said Lai’s inaugural speech amounted to calls for independence, pushing compatriots in Taiwan into a perilous situation of war and danger. “Every time ‘Taiwan independence’ provokes us, we will push our countermeasures one step further, until the complete reunification of the motherland is achieved,” defence ministry spokesman Wu Qian made it clear on Friday.

Wen-Ti Sung, a non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub, believed Lai would “hold firm to project resolve” after this first interaction between his administration and Beijing. “However, he will no doubt be looking to leverage other international partners and friends to help facilitate more back-channel communications with Beijing,” he said.

US delegation

The United States’ de facto embassy earlier announced that Republican Congressman Michael McCaul would lead a delegation to visit Taiwan from Sunday to Thursday “to discuss US-Taiwan relations, regional security, trade and investment”.

Taiwan’s presidential spokesperson Wen Lii said the delegation would be meeting with Lai on Monday.

The visit “conveys an expression of support for the new administration and the people of Taiwan through concrete actions,” he said.

Meanwhile, Meng Xiangqing, a professor from Beijing-based National Defense University, told Xinhua that the People’s Liberation Army vessels were getting closer to the island than ever before. “The drills have shown that we can control that eastern area,” Meng said.

During this week’s drills, fighter jets loaded with live ammunition scrambled towards targets and bombers formed formations to combine with warships to simulate “strikes against important targets”, CCTV reported.

The US, which does not diplomatically recognise Taiwan yet is its biggest ally and arms supplier, urged China on Saturday to “act with restraint”.

On Sunday, two days after the drills ended, Taiwan’s defence ministry reported that seven Chinese aircraft, 14 naval vessels and four coast guard ships were “operating around” the island.

Published in Dawn, May 27th, 2024