Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Lai to emphasize stability in speech

Taipei Times

President-elect William Lai’s (賴清德) inaugural address tomorrow would emphasize solidarity, steadfastness, confidence and responsibility as the themes of his administration, an incoming senior security official said yesterday.

Lai, who succeeds President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) after having been her vice president for the past four years, would have to deal with a China that has ramped up pressure on Taiwan — with almost daily military incursions near its airspace.

His inaugural address would sum up his vision for defending the nation’s democracy, peace and prosperity, said the official, who asked to remain anonymous.

Legislators brawl over reform proposals

Taipei Times

A massive brawl erupted between governing and opposition lawmakers in the main chamber of the legislature in Taipei yesterday over legislative reforms.

President-elect William Lai (賴清德) is to be inaugurated on Monday, but his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lost its majority in the legislature and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has been working with the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) to promote their mutual ideas.

The opposition parties said the legislative reforms would enable better oversight of the Executive Yuan, including a proposal to criminalize officials who are deemed to make false statements in the legislature.

US lawmakers urge better cooperation

Taipei Times

US lawmakers on Thursday introduced new legislation to strengthen Taiwan-US defense cooperation to counter Beijing’s aggression.

US senators Jacky Rosen and Dan Sullivan, along with US representatives Michelle Steel and Steven Horsford, introduced the bipartisan and bicameral bill, transpacific allies investing in weapons to advance national (TAIWAN) security act, calling for stronger Taiwan-US defense cooperation “to counter China’s growing military expansion in the region,” Rosen’s office said in a statement.

The bill requires the US Secretary of Defense “to enhance defense industrial base cooperation” between Washington and Taipei to “deepen US-Taiwan defense ties, promote supply chain security and help alleviate Taiwan’s readiness challenges,” it said.

Taiwan and the international order

Taipei Times Editorial

President-elect William Lai (賴清德) is to accede to the presidency this month at a time when the international order is in its greatest flux in three decades. Lai must navigate the ship of state through the choppy waters of an assertive China that is refusing to play by the rules, challenging the territorial claims of multiple nations and increasing its pressure on Taiwan.

It is widely held in democratic capitals that Taiwan is important to the maintenance and survival of the liberal international order. Taiwan is strategically located, hemming China’s People’s Liberation Army inside the first island chain, preventing it from threatening US military bases that have been the bedrock of prosperity and security in the Asia-Pacific region since the end of World War II.

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