His remarks came amid soaring cross-strait tensions. Beijing has denounced Lai as a “troublemaker” and an “obstinate separatist”, and has tried to downplay the significance of the ruling party’s electoral victory. The DPP won just 40 percent of the ballot and lost its majority in the legislature.
Earlier this month, Taiwan’s former leader Ma Ying-jeou, who met mainland Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing, called on Lai to respond “pragmatically” to the “olive branch” extended by Xi. Ma, from the opposition Kuomintangsaid Lai should refrain from “walking the independence path”.
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‘Foreign interference cannot stop family reunion’: President Xi Jinping hosts Taiwan’s Ma Ying-jeou
‘Foreign interference cannot stop family reunion’: President Xi Jinping hosts Taiwan’s Ma Ying-jeou
On Thursday, Lai told a press conference that Beijing should “have confidence” in talking to the DPP government, Taiwanese media reported.
He said he hoped that Beijing would be “willing to face the elected legitimate government entrusted by the people of Taiwan, and this is the right way for cross-strait exchanges”.
Lai added that a lack of exchanges with the elected government “will not be able to earn the trust and support of the people” and that “in the long run, this will not be a good thing for Beijing, nor will it have a positive impact on cross-strait peace and development.”
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Beijing cut off official communications with Taipei soon after Tsai came to power in 2016, blaming the island’s government for failing to acknowledge the one-China principle.
However, it has maintained active party-to-party communication with opposition parties friendly to Beijing, especially the KMT, and has hosted multiple heavyweights from the KMT on the mainland.
Aside from stressing friendly exchanges, Lai also criticized Beijing’s move to begin operating two civil aviation routes near the sensitive median line in the Taiwan Strait.
He said the move was made without consultation with Taiwan, and he criticized Beijing for “continued unilateral alteration of the status quo in the Taiwan Strait”.
Lai also called on Beijing to “take more responsibility as a regional power for creating prosperity and happiness for the people” on both sides of the strait.
Wednesday’s meeting also heard a report related to Taiwan’s anti-infiltration law, which was passed in 2019 and intended to combat efforts by Beijing to influence politics and the self-ruled island’s democratic process.
Lai on Wednesday said that while promoting cross-strait exchanges, it is also necessary to “strengthen Taiwan’s resilience to safeguard its sovereignty and democratic freedoms”.
Zhu Fenglian, a spokeswoman for Beijing’s Taiwan Affairs Office, slammed the 2019 legislation as an “evil law” on Wednesday, accusing DPP authorities of using it as a political tool to suppress dissent and seek its own partisan interests.
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