Video Transcript

• Taiwan Swears-in New President Amidst Heightened Tensions with China

  This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

  Lai has stated publicly that he will continue to push forward with the vision that his predecessor, Tsai Ing-wen, has had for Taiwan. And that is, first and foremost, to ensure stability and cross-strait relations. There is pushback on the part of China to say that Lai is pushing forward an agenda veering more towards independence. Lai has pushed back on this, but there is already this disinformation campaign about the dangerous path that Lai may pursue. 

  The good news for Taiwan that it is very much in the public mind of the international community, that as we talk about supporting Ukraine, we talk also about the dangerous situation that Taiwan may be in as well. We've had the United States come to not only the rhetorical defense of Taiwan, but we also have had the United States put up over $8 billion in support of Taiwanese defense. Expectations from the United States for Taiwan to demonstrate its own, not just willingness to defend itself, but also build up its own capabilities, and perhaps most importantly, to ensure that Taiwanese public opinion and public psyche is ready to deal with some of the treacherous potential risks that Taiwan may face. 

  Those are some of the elements that the United States will be looking for from Taiwan. How Taiwan can be resilient not just to pressure from China, but also, as it looks to carve a new roadmap forward in ensuring its technology future and its economic foundation. These are some of the challenges that the Lai administration is going to have to deal with.