Taiwan President Lai Ching-te urged the ruling party to better develop the public’s sense of belonging to the democratically run archipelago, comments that risk worsening his difficult relationship with China.

Speaking at the Democratic Progressive Party’s congress in Taipei on Sunday, Lai said that “we will make the greatest possible effort to let all citizens know their own history and culture, and to build a national identity of the 23 million people living in Taiwan as a community of shared destiny.”

The DPP had a duty to “unite the people, resist annexation and safeguard national sovereignty,” Lai said in the televised speech. He delivered the remarks in the local minnan dialect, rather than the Mandarin spoken on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

President Xi Jinping’s government is highly sensitive to any perceived shifts in phrasing from Taiwan’s leaders regarding the island’s status. China blasted Lai’s inauguration speech, saying it “sent a dangerous signal of seeking independence.” Any talk of a “national identity” for those living in the self-ruled democracy that Beijing considers its own would likely be considered a challenge to the status quo.

China has responded to Lai taking office in May with a range of measures to ramp up pressure on him, including holding large military drills around the main island that the US called “provocations.” It also fleshed out laws aimed at supporters of independence, setting out punishments for specific offenses that range from prison time to the death penalty.

Lai’s speech could also worry policymakers in Washington. While President Joe Biden has upset Beijing by repeatedly saying the US would held Taiwan defend itself if the People’s Liberation Army attacked, he also said after Lai’s election win in January that the US did not support independence for Taiwan.

The US has traditionally adopted a policy of strategic ambiguity, acknowledging China’s historical claims to sovereignty over Taiwan, and maintains only unofficial relations with Taipei while pledging defensive assistance.

Taiwan has been ruled by a separate government since the Kuomintang lost the Chinese Civil War around 1949 and has a very different society than the one across the strait. People in Taiwan enjoy a broad ranges of rights denied to people in China, namely freedom of speech and the rights to vote and protest against the government.

A poll by National Chengchi University in Taipei released in June shows that some 64% of the respondents identified themselves as Taiwanese — a figure that matches the highest level in the survey going back to 1992. Another 30% viewed themselves as both Taiwanese and Chinese, and 2% only as Chinese.

The latest survey used data collected over the first six months of the year. The poll compilers don’t provide a margin of error.

The KMT, now an opposition party that is Beijing’s preferred negotiating partner because they share a similar cultural background, criticized Lai’s speech.

KMT lawmaker Lo Chih-chiang was cited as saying in local media reports that it smacked of “ideology and nationalism” and was a sign that Lai was moving toward despotism.

AfriPrime App link:  FREE to download...

https://www.amazon.com/Africircle-AfriPrime/dp/B0D2M3F2JT

Taiwan Court Suspends Changes Giving Lawmakers More Power

Taiwan’s Constitutional Court suspended controversial legal changes expanding lawmakers’ powers, putting the brakes on a move critics say is aimed at derailing the new administration of President Lai Ching-te.

The court will temporarily halt the amendments while deciding whether they are constitutional, it said in a statement on Friday. Under Taiwan law, that suspension can last up to six months.

At stake is whether lawmakers will get more power to open probes of the executive branch, summon officials including the president, and even demand company executives appear to answer questions.

Amid widespread public protests, the amendments were pushed through by opposition parties who won a narrow legislative majority in January elections, even as Lai’s Democratic Progressive Party retained the presidency.

The court said it is consolidating multiple challenges against the changes into one case. That includes one from the Control Yuan, the branch of government responsible for probing and impeaching public officials, which says the changes undermine the separation of powers.

The opposition Kuomintang and its Taiwan People’s Party allies say the new laws would improve oversight and accountability of the government.

But DPP supporters say lawmakers would use their new powers to disrupt President Lai’s agenda. They also warn that would disrupt Lai’s ability to manage relations with both China and the US.

AfriPrime App link:  FREE to download...

https://www.amazon.com/Africircle-AfriPrime/dp/B0D2M3F2JT

Taiwan must protect its sovereignty, know its own history, president says

Taiwan President Lai Ching-te attends a graduation ceremony of military academies in Taipei.

 Taiwan must protect its sovereignty and know its own culture and history, President Lai Ching-te said on Sunday, rejecting what he said was the previous mistaken belief the island could serve as a base to "retake" China.

Lai, who took office in May, and his ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), champion Taiwan's separate identity from China, a position that frequently angers Beijing which views the island as an inviolable part of Chinese territory.

Speaking to the DPP's annual convention, Lai said those who fought to bring democracy to Taiwan - martial law only ended in 1987 - had a clear understanding of the island's place in the world.

They "did not hesitate to shed blood and used their lives to debunk the mistaken idea that 'Taiwan is a base to retake the mainland', and instituted the national policy of putting Taiwan first," said Lai, who is also DPP chairman.

Chiang Kai-shek and his defeated Republic of China government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong's communists.

Chiang hoped to regroup his forces on Taiwan and attack China to destroy Mao's People's Republic of China. Chiang died in 1975 without achieving that dream.

Lai said Taiwan had different priorities.

"Now, our responsibility to unite the people, oppose annexation (by China) and ensure national sovereignty," he said, speaking in Taiwanese, also known as Hokkien, rather than the main language of government, Mandarin.

"We must do our best to let the whole country's people understand Taiwan's own history and culture, and establish a national identity that the 23 million people living in Taiwan are a community of destiny," he added.

China's Taiwan Affairs Office did not answer calls seeking comment outside of office hours on Sunday. China calls Lai a "separatist".

Lai rejects China's sovereignty claims saying only Taiwan's people can decide their future. He has repeatedly offered talks with Beijing but been rebuffed.

China staged war games shortly after Lai's inauguration, and has continued to send warplanes and warships around Taiwan on a daily basis.

Taiwan starts is annual Han Kuang war games on Monday, which this year aim to be as close as possible to actual combat.

Lai said the DPP will always adhere to a democratic and free constitutional system.

"We will never allow Taiwan to suffer the danger of extinction due to the failure of democratic politics," he added.

AfriPrime App link:  FREE to download...

https://www.amazon.com/Africircle-AfriPrime/dp/B0D2M3F2JT