William Lai pushes for Taiwanese identity to stand up to Beijing. But how far will he go?

Island’s leader wants to rename local dialect and boost cultural pride, but analysts say he is unlikely to officially declare independence

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Taiwanese leader William Lai stands in front of a portrait of Sun Yat-sen, founding father of the Republic of China, during a graduation ceremony of military academies in Taipei, Taiwan on Saturday. Photo: Reuters

Lawrence Chungin Taipei

Published: 6:00am, 28 Jul 2024Updated: 9:35pm, 28 Jul 2024

Early into his tenure as Taiwan’s new leader, William Lai Ching-te has signalled he will push for the development of a Taiwan-centric identity to stand against Beijing, according to analysts, though they say he is unlikely to officially declare independence.

During the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) congress on July 21, Lai, who took office in May, called for Taiwanese people to identify with the island and to do away with the belief that Taiwan could serve as a base to “reclaim” the Chinese mainland.

“Our predecessors shed blood and risked their lives to expose the fallacy that ‘Taiwan is a base for reclaiming the mainland’ and set a national direction that places Taiwan front and centre,” said Lai, who is head of the independence-leaning DPP.

The remark was a reference to a long-abandoned plan by the Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek to “recover” the mainland after his Kuomintang (KMT) forces lost a civil war with the Communists and fled to the island in 1949 to set up an interim government.

Before he died in 1975, Chiang had vowed to use Taiwan as a “recovery bastion” to one day retake the mainland – a mission that was abandoned after his son Chiang Ching-kuo succeeded him and concentrated on the island’s development.

Speaking entirely in Taiwanese rather than Mandarin, which is commonly used on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, Lai said the DPP must devote itself to “ensuring that all citizens recognise Taiwan’s history and culture”.

“We must establish a national identity that the 23 million people living in Taiwan share a common destiny,” he said.