After Taiwan’s election, its new envoy to the US offers assurances to Washington and Beijing
WASHINGTON — Taiwan’s top diplomat in Washington has a message for both China’s adversaries and the island’s American friends: Don’t worry that Taiwan’s newly elected president will sour relations with Beijing and possibly draw the U.S. into a conflict.
Newly elected President Lai Ching-te plans to maintain the status quo in the Taiwan Strait, Alexander Tah-Ray Yui told The Associated Press on Thursday in his first interview with an international news organization since arriving in the US in December.
The Chinese government has called Lai a troublemaker who will push Taiwan toward independence. But Yui said Lai is willing to engage with Beijing even as the island tries to strengthen its unofficial ties with Washington for regional stability.
“We want the status quo. We want it as it is: neither unification nor independence. As it is now, it is the way we want to live now,” said Yui, Taiwan’s de facto ambassador to the US, noting that this position is largely supported domestically and will guide the new government.
Yui spoke to the AP five days after Lai won the presidential election with more than 40% of the vote in a three-way race. Lai will succeed Tsai Ing-wen when he is inaugurated in May.
His victory, which gives the independence-oriented Democratic Progressive Party an unprecedented third presidential term, was not welcomed by Beijing, which claims Taiwan as its own and will take it by force if necessary.
Military action in the Taiwan Strait could attract the United States, which has a security treaty with Taiwan to deter any armed invasion from the mainland.
Beijing refused any dialogue with Tsai because her party rejects China’s claim to sovereignty over the island and before the election had suggested to voters that they could choose between war and peace.
It remains unclear whether Beijing will be willing to work with Lai, who has described himself in the past as a “pragmatic worker for Taiwan’s independence.”
Two days after Lai was elected, China expelled Nauru, a small island nation in the Pacific Ocean, leaving Taiwan with only 12 countries around the world that recognize its statehood. However, China has not launched large-scale military exercises around the island as in previous times of heightened tensions.
Yui said Lai plans to follow the same line as his predecessor “but also offer an olive branch to mainland China by saying he is also willing to engage with mainland China.”
At the same time, Taiwan will work with the US to strengthen its defense and deepen economic and cultural ties, Yui said, calling relations with Washington “one of the most important aspects of our foreign affairs.”
The United States has no formal relationship with Taiwan but has stepped up its support in recent years, angering China, which has urged the U.S. to “exercise extreme caution in dealing with Taiwan-related issues.” President Xi Jinping told President Joe Biden that Taiwan is the most sensitive issue in US-China relations.
Shortly after the Taiwan election, Biden told reporters that his administration does not support Taiwan’s independence.
Scott Kennedy, senior adviser and chairman of Chinese business and economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank, said he expected tensions under Lai to remain largely the same.
“Beijing will continue to develop its military capabilities and push the boundaries of military threats and economic coercion,” he said. “The US will continue to assist Taiwan with its defensive preparedness and push Taiwan to act more assertively on the various elements necessary for effective self-defense.”
But Kennedy said Beijing could also open some channels for the two sides to convey messages and reduce misunderstandings.
Yui said it is the duty of both Beijing and Taipei to keep the Taiwan Strait peaceful.
‘I must emphasize that we are not the aggressors. We are not the ones, you know, making waves in the Taiwan Strait, making things nervous and tense,” he said, referring to Beijing’s increased military activities near the island in recent years.
Yui said Taiwan is committed to protecting its homeland, noting that the island is increasing its defense budget and has extended mandatory military service from four months to one year.
He said Beijing’s lure of Nauru was an attempt to punish the Taiwanese people for choosing the leader they wanted, and that it will only backfire.
“They were just trying to find an opportune time and excuse to slowly pick off all our allies,” Yui said. But as a technological powerhouse and democracy, Taiwan has become “a common word in the international community” and in countries beyond. world are more willing to engage, he said.
Yui, who met with Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson shortly before Taiwan’s elections, said he is encouraged by the support from both Republicans and Democrats.
“When you go to Congress, your heart warms because everywhere you go you meet friends,” he said.
Senator Ben Cardin, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called Taiwan “an important U.S. partner in the Indo-Pacific and beyond” and said he would “work closely with Taiwan’s newly elected leaders to advance our economic, security and bonds between people.”
Born into a family of diplomats, Yui attended high school in Panama and earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Texas A.&M University. He previously served as Taiwan’s Ambassador to Paraguay and Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Before coming to Washington, Yui briefly served as Taiwan’s representative to the European Union and Belgium. Yui succeeded Hsiao Bi-Khim, who left the post in November to become Lai’s running mate. Hsiao, who is credited with deepening ties between Taiwan and the US when he headed the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States between 2020 and 2023, will be the next vice president.