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Lai Ching-te takes over top office in Taiwan

More than 500 foreign guests attended the inauguration of 64-year-old Lai Ching-te, including representatives from 12 countries that recognize Taiwan as a separate state

Taiwan's leader Lai Ching-te Johannes Neudecker/picture alliance via Getty Images

Taiwan's leader Lai Ching-te

© Johannes Neudecker/picture alliance via Getty Images

HONG KONG, May 20. /TASS/. Lai Ching-te has officially been sworn as Taiwan's leader in Taipei, according to a broadcast.

On January 13, Taiwan held elections for its top office and members of the Legislative Yuan (parliament). Lai Ching-te, who was previously the island's deputy head, won with 40.05% of the vote. Hsiao Bi-khim will become the island's second in command.

More than 500 foreign guests attended the inauguration of 64-year-old Lai Ching-te, including representatives from 12 countries that recognize Taiwan as a separate state, about 40 parliamentarians from European countries and a large US delegation.

Political platform

A member of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Lai Ching-te will now be at the head of the island for the next four years. He succeeds Tsai Ing-wen, who served as Taiwan's leader for two consecutive four-year terms (2016-2024). After Tsai Ing-wen's administration took office, relations between Beijing and Taipei began to deteriorate. She refused to recognize the one-China principle and reversed the Kuomintang party’s course of gradual rapprochement with Beijing.

Lai Ching-te's political views align with Tsai Ing-wen's position. In the past, the politician often referred to himself as Taiwan's "freedom fighter." Recently, his rhetoric has changed and softened, and he now declares that maintaining the status quo in the Taiwan Strait is his priority.

Taiwan has been governed by its own administration since 1949, when the remnants of the Kuomintang forces led by Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975) fled there after their defeat in the Chinese Civil War. Since then, the island has retained the flag and some other attributes of the former Republic of China that existed on the mainland before the Communists came to power. Official Beijing considers Taiwan a province of the People’s Republic of China.

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