Taiwan is a “sovereign, independent country,” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate William Lai (賴清德) told Bloomberg Businessweek in an interview, adding that he had no plans to purse formal independence.
“Taiwan is already a sovereign, independent country called the Republic of China,” Vice President Lai said, echoing a stance President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) made public three years ago, in his first interview with an international media outlet since becoming vice president in 2020.
“And in respect to unifying Taiwanese society, President Tsai has used the term Republic of China (Taiwan) to describe our country. I will continue to do so in the future,” he said. “There are no plans to change the name of our country.”
Photo: AP
“It is not necessary to declare independence,” he said in an interview aired on Tuesday while he is on a seven-day trip to the US and Paraguay. “The Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to one another.”
Asked by editor Joel Weber about whether he has a road map to Taiwan’s formal independence, Lai, who has on more than one occasion described himself as a “pragmatic worker for Taiwan independence,” said “no such framework exists.”
“My responsibility is to maintain the status quo in the Taiwan Strait, while protecting Taiwan and maintaining democracy, peace and prosperity,” the 63-year-old said.
At the same time, Lai pitched himself as a “rational and steady” leader who is able to continue Tsai’s policy and work with the US government effectively.
“I have been part of President Tsai’s national security team,” which has “responsible and clear channels of communications” with Washington, he said.
Lai described next year’s presidential election as a decision between further engaging with the international community and working with China through caving in to its political agenda.
Lai is leading in most opinion polls, with Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) trailing.
While stressing that he remains “open” to engaging in dialogue with China, Lai took note of the security challenges facing Taiwan because of Beijing’s “tendency to annex Taiwan” and refusal to denounce the use of force.
These challenges are of global concern, he said, adding that the international community must respond to China’s actions, which he said “are the reasons for tensions” in the Taiwan Strait.
Lai is in Paraguay for the inauguration of Paraguayan President Santiago Pena. Paraguay is one of only 13 UN member states to maintain diplomatic ties with Taipei.
He transited through New York on his way there, drawing anger from China, which said he was a separatist and “troublemaker,” and he is due back in Taipei on Friday after stopping over in San Francisco.
Additional reporting by Reuters
Nvidia Corp yesterday unveiled its new high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink Fusion, with Taiwanese application-specific IC (ASIC) designers Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among the first to adopt the technology to help build semi-custom artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for hyperscalers. Nvidia has opened its technology to outside users, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers are building their own cost-effective AI chips, or accelerators, used in AI servers by leveraging ASIC firms’ designing capabilities to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Previously, NVLink technology was only available for Nvidia’s own AI platform. “NVLink Fusion opens Nvidia’s AI platform and rich ecosystem for
‘WORLD’S LOSS’: Taiwan’s exclusion robs the world of the benefits it could get from one of the foremost practitioners of disease prevention and public health, Minister Chiu said Taiwan should be allowed to join the World Health Assembly (WHA) as an irreplaceable contributor to global health and disease prevention efforts, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. He made the comment at a news conference in Taipei, hours before a Taiwanese delegation was to depart for Geneva, Switzerland, seeking to meet with foreign representatives for a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the WHA, the WHO’s annual decisionmaking meeting, which would be held from Monday next week to May 27. As of yesterday, Taiwan had yet to receive an invitation. Taiwan has much to offer to the international community’s
CAUSE AND EFFECT: China’s policies prompted the US to increase its presence in the Indo-Pacific, and Beijing should consider if this outcome is in its best interests, Lai said China has been escalating its military and political pressure on Taiwan for many years, but should reflect on this strategy and think about what is really in its best interest, President William Lai (賴清德) said. Lai made the remark in a YouTube interview with Mindi World News that was broadcast on Saturday, ahead of the first anniversary of his presidential inauguration tomorrow. The US has clearly stated that China is its biggest challenge and threat, with US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth repeatedly saying that the US should increase its forces in the Indo-Pacific region
ALL TOGETHER: Only by including Taiwan can the WHA fully exemplify its commitment to ‘One World for Health,’ the representative offices of eight nations in Taiwan said The representative offices in Taiwan of eight nations yesterday issued a joint statement reiterating their support for Taiwan’s meaningful engagement with the WHO and for Taipei’s participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA). The joint statement came as Taiwan has not received an invitation to this year’s WHA, which started yesterday and runs until Tuesday next week. This year’s meeting of the decisionmaking body of the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, would be the ninth consecutive year Taiwan has been excluded. The eight offices, which reaffirmed their support for Taiwan, are the British Office Taipei, the Australian Office Taipei, the