DPP’s Lai Ching-te to continue with current government’s foreign, China policies

Debate is swirling around DPP presidential candidate Lai Ching-te’s true feelings about Taiwan independence after he recently said if Taiwan’s president can walk into the White House, his political goal will have been achieved. The U.S. forbids Taiwanese leaders to enter the capital because of its "One China" policy. On Friday Lai addressed these concerns at an event held by the Asia Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce. There he said his future administration would continue with the prudent diplomatic path laid out by President Tsai Ing-wen, as well as his own proposed four-pillar plan for peace. Let’s give it a listen.

Lai Ching-te
Vice president
In the face of regional hegemony, I will continue with President Tsai Ing-wen’s “four commitments.” I will also implement the “four pillars” that I wrote about in my recent Wall Street Journal op-ed to maintain cross-strait peace and defend our free and democratic government. We absolutely must strengthen our national defense while standing on the side of democracy. I hope that on the front of economic development, the sun will never set over Taiwanese companies. I hope they can build up Taiwan and go global, selling their products to the whole world. The Executive Yuan has launched several policies and projects to draw back investment from Taiwanese companies back to Taiwan, and to assist small and medium enterprises to invest in Taiwan.

Lai also thanked the association for its support for Taiwan, saying that he hopes to continue cooperating with all industries so that Taiwan will continue to play an important role in global supply chains.