Pugnacious, stubborn and a \u201cpragmatic worker for Taiwan\u2019s independence,\u201d veteran politician, Lai Ching-te, will step into the international spotlight as the democratic island\u2019s next president to navigate an increasingly turbulent relationship with China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 64-year-old Harvard graduate rode to victory in Saturday\u2019s election on the promise that he would defend Taiwan\u2019s democracy and resist Beijing\u2019s claims on the island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His win delivers an unprecedented third consecutive term for the Democratic Progressive Party and in his victory speech, Lai hailed it as a \u201cvictory for the community of democracies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are telling the international community that between democracy and authoritarianism, we will stand on the side of democracy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has vowed to continue outgoing President Tsai Ing-wen\u2019s policies of building up Taiwan\u2019s military capabilities as a defence deterrence against a potential invasion from China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But his outspokenness \u2013 which he has moderated in recent months on his path to the presidency \u2013 has drawn the ire of Beijing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

China regards him as a \u201cstubborn worker\u201d for Taiwan\u2019s independence and a \u201csaboteur of peace,\u201d warning that the soft-spoken politician would be the cause of \u201cwar and decline\u201d for the island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are strong doubts on China\u2019s side about his deep-seated convictions,\u201d said, head of the Asia programme at Montaigne Institute in Paris, Mathieu Duchatel, adding that at this stage, \u201c(Lai) wants above all to reassure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Son of a coal miner<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike most of Taiwan\u2019s political elite, Lai rose from humble origins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Born in 1959, Lai was raised by his mother alongside five other siblings in a rural hamlet in New Taipei City, after his coal miner father died when he was a toddler.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After he graduated from Harvard University, he returned to work in a hospital in southern Taiwan before turning his attention to politics in 1996 during the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy defining moment came as China\u2019s military adventurism\u2026 threatened our shores with live fire exercises and missiles,\u201d he wrote in an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal last July.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI decided I had a duty to participate in Taiwan\u2019s democracy and help protect this fledgling experiment from those who wished it harm.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He served as a lawmaker, a mayor of the southern city of Tainan and a premier before he was tapped to be vice-president to President Tsai Ing-wen, whom he will now succeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under Tsai\u2019s two-term tenure relations with China plummeted \u2014 with all high-level communications cut off \u2014 as she defended the island\u2019s sovereignty and refused to acknowledge Beijing\u2019s claim over it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During his campaign for office, Lai stuck to her stance that Taiwan is \u201calready independent,\u201d and does not need to formally declare itself separate from China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has also said he is willing to have exchanges with China \u201con the preconditions of parity and dignity,\u201d explaining that closer ties for economic prosperity should not be traded for Taiwan\u2019s sovereignty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAccepting China\u2019s \u2018one-China\u2019 principle is not true peace,\u201d he said, referring to a Beijing doctrine that Taiwan is a part of China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeace without sovereignty is just like Hong Kong. It is a false peace.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Much fiercer\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

During his time as premier, he was more vocal than Tsai about the issue of independence, which some say has top allies like the United States \u2013 Taiwan\u2019s main weapons provider \u2013 concerned about how he will handle relations with China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe question will be to what extent Lai can stick to the cautious and moderate pathway carved out by Tsai,\u201d said Amanda Hsiao of the International Crisis Group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sarah Liu of the University of Edinburgh said a Lai administration would continue on a path of \u201cless economic reliance on China.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThrough strengthening its international standing, Taiwan will gain more allies to further consolidate its democracy,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tsai made a reference to his pugnacity in a campaign ad released this year ahead of the poll.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou are much fiercer than I am\u2026 you step up and fight with others,\u201d she said in a slickly edited commercial that showed the two driving along a picturesque highway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut I did it for the safety of my country\u2026 because protecting Taiwan\u2019s democracy is the most important,\u201d Lai responded before Tsai handed him the steering wheel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pugnacious, stubborn and a \u201cpragmatic worker for Taiwan\u2019s independence,\u201d veteran politician, Lai Ching-te, will step into the international spotlight as the democratic island\u2019s next president to navigate an increasingly turbulent relationship with China. The 64-year-old Harvard graduate rode to victory in Saturday\u2019s election on the promise that he would defend Taiwan\u2019s democracy and resist Beijing\u2019s claims on the island. His win delivers an unprecedented third consecutive term for the Democratic Progressive Party and in his victory speech, Lai hailed it as a \u201cvictory for the community of democracies.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":88236,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,2],"tags":[9741,9742],"class_list":["post-88235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","category-world","tag-lai-ching-te","tag-taiwan-presidential-election"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metronews.ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metronews.ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metronews.ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metronews.ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metronews.ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88235"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.metronews.ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88235\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88237,"href":"https:\/\/www.metronews.ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88235\/revisions\/88237"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metronews.ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metronews.ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metronews.ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metronews.ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}