Taiwan: President-Elect Lai: Our Duty to Avoid Confrontation with China

Faced with Beijing’s criticism of the United States and Japan and its condemnation of official delegation visits to the island, Taiwan has extended an olive branch to China to ease tensions. Taiwan’s President-elect Lai Ching-te has said he will advocate for maintaining the status quo with China in the Taiwan Strait during his term in office.

He said this at a meeting with a delegation of US scholars at the Presidential Palace in Taipei on Wednesday, March 13. “It is our responsibility to do our best for peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region,” Lai said.

The US delegation included Bonnie Glaser, director general of the Indo-Pacific Program at the German Marshall Fund think tank; John Rick Waters, director of Eurasia Group’s China practice; Zack Cooper, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute; and Jude Blanchette of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

Addressing US scholars, Lai urged the international community to “always keep an eye” on the Taiwan Strait, where China’s military activity is increasing.