Lai Ching-te's Inaugural Address: 'Unforgivable Remarks' that Infuriated China and Taiwan's Reality of Being 'Used to Intimidation'

On May 20, Lai Ching-te (賴清德) took office as Taiwan's new president, and immediately following his inaugural address, China once again conducted military exercises in the form of encircling Taiwan. This article aims to analyze the escalating China-Taiwan relationship, focusing on President Lai's inaugural address and China's counter-response.

President Lai's inaugural address, while generally within expectations, is considered to have sufficiently revealed his 'pro-independence' stance. Of course, President Lai inherited the basic policy of the Tsai Ing-wen administration, and he did not use the four characters 'Taiwan independence' in his speech. This demonstrates his consideration for China and his caution in avoiding providing a pretext for the use of force.

However, the word 'Taiwan' appeared a remarkable 77 times in his speech, while the official 'national title' of Taiwan, 'Republic of China,' appeared only 9 times, and 'Republic of China (Taiwan)' only 3 times. For President Lai, who has a 'pro-independence' tendency and made the statement 'Republic of China is a disaster' during a televised presidential debate (he later explained it as a slip of the tongue, saying 'Republic of China Constitution is a disaster'), using the word 'Taiwan' more frequently is advantageous, while using the word 'Republic of China' less is favorable.

Of course, the territory currently governed by the Taiwanese president does not include mainland China, the original governing territory of the 'Republic of China' established after the Xinhai Revolution in 1912, but is limited to Taiwan Island, the Penghu Islands (澎湖), Kinmen Island, and Matsu Island. Therefore, in the inaugural addresses of former President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in 2008 and 2012, 'Taiwan' appeared more frequently than 'Republic of China,' and the same was true for the inaugural addresses of former President Tsai Ing-wen in 2012 and 2016.

However, there is one crucial difference in the terminology used by former Presidents Tsai, Ma, and President Lai. It concerns the relationship with China (here, 'China' generally refers to mainland China, or the People's Republic of China, excluding Taiwan, as used in Japan). In both of her inaugural addresses, former President Tsai did not use the word 'China,' and instead of 'China-Taiwan' relations, she used the word 'cross-strait' (meaning both sides of the Taiwan Strait) and referred to 'China-Taiwan relations' as 'cross-strait relations.' Former President Ma Ying-jeou also used 'mainland' for 'China' and 'cross-strait' for 'China-Taiwan relations.

However, President Lai used the word 'China' in the same way that the Japanese do. This was an unforgivable act for the Chinese Communist Party. For China, Taiwan is 'part of China,' even though it is not ruled by the Chinese Communist Party. If President Lai refers to the People's Republic of China as 'China,' then China has no choice but to interpret it as a declaration that 'People's Republic of China = China, and Taiwan is part of China (not a part of China).'