May 20th 2024 marks the inauguration of the 16th-term president and vice president of the Republic of China, Taiwan.
In the January election, Lai Ching-te (賴清德) also known as William Lai of the Democratic Progressive Party and his vice presidential running mate, Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) won the popular vote. Their appointment to the presidential office means a third consecutive term for the DPP as Lai’s predecessor, Tsai Ing-wen, (蔡英文) Taiwan’s first female president, concludes her two terms in office.
This is a delicate time for Taiwan - China relations as Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping has explicitly made taking Taiwan, by force if necessary, part of his plans to “rejuvenate” China.
However, the Taiwanese people are less interested than ever in unifying with the mainland.
In this episode I’m delighted to welcome Brian Hioe (丘琦欣) back to the podcast. Brian is one of the founding editors of New Bloom Magazine and a non-resident Fellow at the University of Nottingham’s Taiwan Studies program. I caught up with him in Taipei to talk about the upcoming inauguration, China’s increasing gray zone tactics and over-reach, the role of the China-friendly KMT party in the new administration and much more.
