Today marks President William Lai’s (賴清德) 100th day in office. Most campaigns promise to enact much of their platform within the first 100 days, making the benchmark an instructive metric to judge a new administration and its priorities. So what do Lai’s first 100 days say about where his administration is going?
According to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) insiders, Lai and Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) plan to emphasize unity in their speeches this week, characterizing their administration as a team that “does not face the public with individual heroism.” To underline that point, they would divvy up topics, with Lai covering defense and foreign affairs, while Cho addresses domestic policies. The tone corresponds with the tenor of their administration thus far. Lai and Cho are veteran politicians with deep roots in their party, having served in local and central governments for decades. They came into office with a policy-based plan for governance that builds on the previous eight years of the DPP administration. They have acted quickly, announcing many new initiatives in the first 100 days that center on a technocratic structure of government that has defined their careers.
Within a month of taking office on May 20, Lai made a clear declaration of his priorities by announcing the establishment of three ad hoc committees dedicated to addressing climate change, civil defense and healthcare. He vowed to staff them with representatives from across society and preside over each one, with the aim of coordinating across government and the private sector to tackle what he sees are the nation’s three greatest challenges. He lent credence to his “team-building” approach by announcing some surprising choices for the climate committee leadership. Two of them — former Academia Sinica president Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲) and Pegatron Group chairman Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢) — support the use of nuclear power, directly opposing the DPP’s long-standing “nuclear-free homeland” policy. With these choices, Lai is signaling his intent to listen to opposition voices, but on a more practical level, it allows his administration to ease concerns about maintaining a stable power supply while still assuring their base that the party’s stance on nuclear has not changed.
Healthcare has been another major focus. Considering Lai’s background as a physician, it is an initiative that feels genuine to him on a personal level. On Thursday, he presided over the first meeting of the Healthy Taiwan Promotion Committee, announcing a goal to raise the life expectancy to 82 over eight years. In the months before, the Cabinet had announced a dizzying array of policies and budgets as part of the greater “Healthy Taiwan” plan that seeks to expand cancer screenings, offer free checkups, and improve remote and long-term healthcare. Lai has clearly consolidated expertise on the subject within his administration and plans to make it a hallmark of his presidency. Yet what he is able to achieve among all his proposals remains to be seen.
Besides healthcare reform, Lai seems to be eyeing artificial intelligence (AI) as another hallmark of his presidency. One of Lai’s most repeated pledges has been to make Taiwan an “AI island.” The Cabinet last week announced a NT$36 billion (US$1.13 billion) investment over five years to transform southern Taiwan into a computational and technological hub. Although it feels like an emptier slogan than “Healthy Taiwan,” Lai hopes to fortify the nation’s dominance in cutting-edge silicon and computers following the lead of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. The administration just needs to be careful to put its funding in the right places, as it is always risky chasing the latest tech trend when so many others are also in the race.
The Lai administration has hit the ground running, hoping to prove to Taiwanese its determination to govern effectively. It should keep up the energy, as these are the benchmarks on which Lai’s presidency will be judged.
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