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As Taiwan’s President, Lai faces challenges on 3 fronts
Beijing aside, he has to reckon with an aggressive opposition domestically and concerns in Washington as well.
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Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te offered assurances to the US and to his domestic political opponents, but made no concessions to China.
PHOTO: AFP
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In his inaugural address on May 20
The first was the opposition camp in Taiwan – mainly the Kuomintang (KMT) and Mr Ko Wen-je’s Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The second group was the US government, which sells arms to Taiwan and would likely intervene to help defend against a major military attack on Taiwan by China. Finally, the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), which insists on pain of war that Taiwan must eventually submit to becoming a PRC province, also paid close attention to Lai’s speech.
