Tsai Treads a Fine Line as She Prepares to Deliver Closely-watched Inaugural Speech

TODAY

20 May 2016

All eyes are on Dr Tsai Ing-wen as she makes her inauguration speech today as the new Taiwanese President, with China in particular closely watching what she says or does not say on cross-strait ties.

More than three months after leading her pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to a landslide win in both the presidential and legislative elections, Dr Tsai will be sworn in this morning at a ceremony attended by Taiwanese leaders and foreign dignitaries.

It is her inauguration speech, though — which she is slated to make slightly after 11am — that will be the focus of global attention. Dr Tsai will have to tread lightly between the expectations of her domestic audience — whose sense of national identity and self-determination is growing — and the Chinese government in Beijing.

… Dr Wu Shang-su, an S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies research fellow who previously worked at Taiwan’s National Defence University and the Legislative Yuan added that “a hardline approach would be the last option for Tsai due to Taiwan’s economic and military vulnerability”. He noted that the island’s economy is now more connected to the mainland than ever, and its military has been under-invested for at least a decade.

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