Taiwan's president says Beijing remains the obstacle for resuming cross-strait exchanges
"Taiwan hopes to have healthy and orderly exchanges with China under the principle of reciprocal dignity, and [Beijing] can cooperate with Taiwan openly and generously," Lai said during his first New Year address since becoming president in May 2024.
He added that China’s attempt to weaken Taiwan’s democracy would only be "counterproductive" to conducting cross-strait exchanges and earning Taiwanese people’s trust.
Lai said Beijing is blocking civil society exchanges across the Taiwan Strait by restricting Chinese tourists from visiting the island or preventing Chinese students from studying in Taiwan.
"From this, we can see that the real obstacle to cross-strait exchanges is China, not Taiwan," he told journalists gathering at the presidential office in Taipei.
Apart from addressing cross-strait dynamics, Lai warned about the threat that authoritarian countries such as China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea pose to the rules-based international order.
"Authoritarian regimes continue to cooperate and threaten the rule-based international order, seriously affecting peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific and around the globe," he said, adding that peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is a "necessary element" for global security and prosperity.
"Taiwan must be prepared for danger even in times of peace, continue to enhance its defense budget, strengthen its defense capabilities, and showcase the determination to defend itself," Lai added.
Lai’s speech comes as China continues to increase military pressure against Taiwan. Since he took office last May, China has conducted two blockade-style military exercises around Taiwan and increased the frequency of deploying military aircraft and naval vessels to waters and airspaces near the island.
China views Taiwan as part of its territory and has repeatedly vowed to reunify with the island, through force if necessary. During his New Year address on Tuesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping reiterated the message that Beijing’s efforts to reunify with Taipei cannot be stopped.
"No one can ever sever the bond of kinship between us, and no one can ever stop China's reunification, a trend of the times," Xi said in his 10-minute televised address.
Analysts say Lai is trying to create "a new narrative" about relations between Taiwan and China by highlighting the collective threat that authoritarian countries pose to democracies around the world.
"He is grouping China with other authoritarian regimes and portraying China as a threat to the democratic world, in which Taiwan is a member," said Zhiqun Zhu, an expert on Chinese foreign policy at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania.
"This new narrative not only aims to highlight and promote Taiwan's separate identity from China but is also geared towards winning international support for Taiwan's de facto independence," he told VOA in a written response.
During his roughly 20-minute speech, the Taiwanese president said the island will continue to defend democracy and its democratic way of life under his leadership.
"Regardless of the threats and challenges to Taiwan, democracy is the only way for us and there is no turning back," Lai said.
"The safer Taiwan is, the safer the world will be, and the stronger Taiwan is; the stronger the world's democratic defenses will be," he added.
Zhu said Lai’s rhetoric is unlikely to soften Beijing’s pressure and intimidation against Taiwan in 2025. "He highlighted the importance of strengthening Taiwan’s ability to deter Beijing’s invasion, combating information and cognitive warfare, raising Taiwan’s defense budget, and boosting its military power," he told VOA.
"This is not music to Beijing’s ears and Beijing’s view that Lai is a diehard separatist is unlikely to change, which means that official contacts between the two sides are unlikely to resume in the near future," Zhu added.
Focus on economic diplomacy in 2025
To highlight Taiwan’s efforts to deepen engagement with like-minded democracies, Lai said Taiwan has redirected investments to democratic countries, including Japan and the United States, in recent years.
"Taiwan's investment in the U.S., Japan, and Europe has risen sharply, significantly surpassing that in China," he said, adding that the trend shows Taipei’s efforts reduce reliance on a single market.
Additionally, Lai said Taiwan will utilize its advantages in the semiconductor and AI sector to strengthen the resilience of the "democratic supply chain" with democracies around the world.
Taiwan needs to "master advanced technologies and promote diversified development so that Taiwan can continue to lead the advancement of the global democratic supply chain and also ensure the security and stability of the global democratic supply chain," he added.
Experts say these signals show that Taiwan will focus on deepening relations with other democratic countries through economic diplomacy in 2025.
"From his speech, we can see the core of Taiwan’s economic diplomacy is democracy, and based on this principle, Taiwan can use its strength in advanced technologies to deepen relations with like-minded countries," Hung Chin-fu, a political science professor at National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan, told VOA by phone.
Hung said as China struggles to boost its sluggish economy and Lai continues to portray Taiwan as part of the democratic world, relations between Beijing and Taipei are not likely to improve in 2025.
"China’s military intimidation against Taiwan will likely continue in 2025 because Beijing needs to use it as a distraction from the ongoing economic downturn the country is experiencing," he told VOA.