By Eryk Bagshaw
Singapore: Taiwan’s ruling party has elected William Lai as its candidate to replace Tsai Ing-Wen in next year’s presidential election, throwing the former mayor into the centre of a race that will be watched closely in Beijing, Washington and Canberra.
Lai, the 63-year-old son of a mining family, was named as the Democratic Progressive Party’s [DPP] candidate on Wednesday, making him the frontrunner in a presidential contest that will help define the next decade of geopolitical tension in Asia.
Taiwan’s Vice President Lai Ching-te, also known as William Lai.Credit: AP
The announcement followed three days of military drills by the People’s Liberation Army that encircled the island of 24 million for the second time in the past 12 months. Taiwan’s Defence Ministry on Wednesday said China was planning to impose a no-fly zone to the north of the democratic island that Beijing claims as its own. But an initial three-day imposition was later downgrade to one hour.
“I’m very honoured to be nominated to shoulder the mission of protecting Taiwan,” Lai said at the DPP headquarters in Taipei.
Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu told CNN that he believed China was preparing for war.
“Look at the military exercises, and also their rhetoric, they seem to be trying to get ready to launch a war against Taiwan,” Wu said. “The Taiwanese government looks at the Chinese military threat as something that cannot be accepted and we condemn it.”
Wu has made similar comments in the past as he attempts to bolster international support for Taiwan. The Taiwanese government has also been on a recruitment push for its military after declaring it would fight any attempt by Beijing to take over the island, which has never been ruled by the Chinese Communist Party.
Lai, who is Tsai’s vice-president and was previously mayor of Tainan, has long held a pro-independence view, describing himself as a “political worker for independence”.
Tsai has maintained the status quo during her eight years in power by governing separately from China, while not declaring formal international independence. China has threatened to take Taiwan by force if necessary and warned that formal independence would be a “red line” that could trigger military action.
In 2019, Beijing’s Taiwan Affairs Office condemned Lai’s comments as “arrogant” and argued it would “fire-up cross-strait confrontation and endanger the peaceful status on the Taiwan Straits”.
Lai has since moderated his rhetoric and on Wednesday said he would continue Tsai’s foreign policy.
“President Tsai is walking on the path of democracy, and facing the future,” he said.
The president is ineligible for re-election after serving two consecutive four-year terms.
Her successor is expected to face a tight national election race against the Kuomintang, the party that has historically sought closer business ties with Beijing after it won a series of local elections last year.
Lai has repeated the message about maintaining the status quo to foreign leaders nervous about any sudden change in the region.
“The world cares about the security of Taiwan. Security and the economy are two issues I take very seriously. We will do our best to protect the peace across the Taiwan Strait,” he told US foreign affairs committee chairman Michael McCaul on Monday.
Lai, a teetotaller who developed a strong reputation for his work ethic and memory as mayor, listed boosting the domestic economy, growing green energy and maintaining a resilient supply chain as his other major policy goals.
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