Taiwan’s new president William Lai urges China to ‘stop’ making threats – but aims to maintain the status quo
The inauguration of Taiwan’s new president, Lai Ching-te, is more about handing over the baton than any dramatic change in policy for the island which is overshadowed by its large and powerful neighbour, China.
It’s expected Lai Ching-te (also called by his English name, William Lai) will stay the course set by his predecessor, Tsai Ing-wen.
But his first speech as the new president was closely watched in Asia for any clues about how Taiwan will handle its difficult relationship with China.
In a careful and considered address, Mr Lai urged China to “stop threatening Taiwan” and called for “peace and stability” in the Taiwan Strait.
China’s position is unequivocal – that Taiwan is part of China and “re-unification” with the mainland is inevitable.
Many on the island want to maintain its sovereignty and democracy. But the pressure is building and Taiwan knows it.
“So long as China refuses to renounce the use of force against Taiwan, all of us in Taiwan ought to understand, that even if we accept the entirety of China’s position and give up our sovereignty, China’s ambition to annex Taiwan will not simply disappear,” Mr Lai said.
Mr Lai and his wife Wu Mei-ju wave to the crowds. Pic: Reuters
‘Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’
In Beijing today, the response was firm. Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Chen Binhua said: “The mainland and Taiwan belong to the same China, and Taiwan is an inalienable part of China.
“Taiwan independence is incompatible with peace in the Taiwan Strait.
“Our will to resolve the Taiwan question and complete national reunification is rock-solid, our ability to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity is impregnable, and our actions against ‘Taiwan independence’ and foreign interference are resolute and strong.
“We will never tolerate or condone any form of secessionist acts of ‘Taiwan independence’.”
Pic: Reuters
Speech designed not to appease nor antagonise
The inauguration celebration was big on colour and big on mentioning “democracy” – Mr Lai dropped it in more than 30 times.
This was his first chance as president to promote Taiwan’s democratic and sovereign status.
Still, it was clear this was a speech designed to neither appease nor antagonise the Chinese Communist Party.
And that is exactly the difficult balancing act the Taiwanese government is faced with.
Over the last few years, Taiwan has welcomed hundreds of journalists, politicians and diplomats to the island.
The most controversial was the visit by former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in 2022. It caused a crisis.
Chinese missiles, ships and planes buzzed around the island for days after the trip.
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Dancers perform during a colourful inauguration ceremony in Taipei. Pic: AP
Pic: AP
Pic: AP
Unofficial US delegation attends ceremony
The US does not have formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, but does acknowledge a “robust unofficial relationship”.
It knows well that any high-profile visits to the island would be fiercely condemned by China.
Only an unofficial US delegation was present at the ceremony today.
These days China has a two-pronged strategy towards Taiwan. The tough approach and the softer approach – something akin to trying to win over a few hearts and minds on the way.
The tough one sees Chinese naval vessels and fighter jets operating ever closer to Taiwan, including its mountainous eastern side.
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Pic: AP
Pic: DPA/AP
Mr Lai’s address to the crowds was careful and considered. Pic: Reuters
China peeling away states that recognise Taiwan
Diplomatically, China has been gradually peeling away the handful of tiny island countries and micro-states in the Pacific and Caribbean who recognise Taiwan, enticing them with trade and investment to switch sides.
But on the other side, China is encouraging Taiwanese investment, making it easier for them to buy property, study and work on the mainland.
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Mr Lai will aim to maintain the status quo when it comes to China.
In the past, China has called him a “separatist” and “dangerous”.
He’s since modified his position urging “sovereignty” and saying nothing about independence.
On technology, Mr Lai emphasised the country’s unique status as the world’s largest manufacturer of semi-conductors and foreshadowed the island’s future in artificial intelligence.
Mr Lai said Taiwan is as “important to the world as it is to the Taiwanese people”.
His message was clear – in the great power rivalry between the West and China, Taiwan matters.
New pictures show the moment of impact as an Israeli missile hit a Beirut apartment block and exploded.
The block was one of five buildings destroyed by airstrikes on Friday alone.
Israel launched airstrikes in the southern suburbs of Beirut in a fourth consecutive day of intense attacks.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Associated Press photographer captured a sequence of images showing an Israeli bomb approaching and hitting a multi-storey apartment building in Beirut’s Tayouneh area.
Richard Weir, a senior crisis, conflict and arms researcher at Human Rights Watch, reviewed the close-up photos to determine what type of weapon was used.
“The bomb and components visible in the photographs, including the strake, wire harness cover, and tail fin section, are consistent with a Mk-84 series 2,000-pound class general purpose bomb equipped with Boeing’s joint directed attack munition tail kit,” he told AP.
Pics: AP
Smoke covers a building that collapses following the strike. Pic: AP
Deadly strikes as bombardment stepped up
Israel stepped up its bombardment this week – an escalation that has coincided with signs of movement in US-led diplomacy towards a ceasefire.
The Israeli military said its fighter jets attacked munitions warehouses, a headquarters and other Hezbollah infrastructure. It issued a warning on social media identifying buildings ahead of the strikes.
Meanwhile, an Israeli airstrike killed five members of the same family in a home in Ain Qana in the southern province of Nabatiyeh, Lebanon’s state media said.
The report said a mother, father and their three children were killed but didn’t provide their ages.
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Three other Israeli strikes killed six people and wounded 32 in different parts of Tyre province on Friday, also in south Lebanon, the report said.
Video footage also showed a building being struck and turning into a cloud of rubble and debris that billowed into Horsh Beirut, the city’s main park.
Residents check the site of the airstrike in Tayouneh, Beirut. Pic: AP
More than 3,200 people have been killed in Lebanon during 13 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah – most of them since mid-September.
About 27% of those killed were women and children, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
Israel dramatically escalated its bombardment of Lebanon from September, vowing to cripple Hezbollah and end its barrages in Israel.
Friday’s strikes come as Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister has asked Iran to help secure a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hezbollah.
The prime minister appeared to urge Ali Larijani, a top adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, to convince the militant group to agree to a deal that could require it to pull back from the Israel-Lebanon border.
Iran is a main backer of Hezbollah and for decades has been funding and arming the Lebanese militant group.
On Thursday, Eli Cohen, Israel’s energy minister and a member of its security cabinet, said that prospects for a ceasefire with Lebanon were the most promising since the conflict began.
The Washington Post reported Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was rushing to advance a Lebanon ceasefire to deliver an early foreign policy win to his ally, US President-elect Donald Trump.
“Super high-IQ revolutionaries” who are willing to work 80+ hours a week are being urged to join Elon Musk’s new cost-cutting department in Donald Trump’s incoming US government.
The X and Tesla owner will co-lead the Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.
And in a post on X, the official DOGE account put out a call to arms for people to sign up and help “dismantle government bureaucracy”.
The post said: “We are very grateful to the thousands of Americans who have expressed interest in helping us at DOGE.
“We don’t need more part-time idea generators.
“We need super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting.
“If that’s you, DM this account with your CV. Elon & Vivek will review the top 1% of applicants.”
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Elon Musk speaking at an event held at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. Pic: AP Photo/Alex Brandon
In a reply to an interested party, Mr Musk suggested the lucky applicants would be working for free.
“Indeed, this will be tedious work, make lost of enemies & compensation is zero,” the world’s richest man wrote.
“What a great deal!”
When announcing the new department, President-elect Donald Trump said Mr Musk and Mr Ramaswamy “will pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies”.
Mr Musk has previously made clear his desire to see cuts to “government waste” and in a post on his X platform suggested he could axe as many as three-quarters of the more than 400 federal departments in the US, writing: “99 is enough.”
At least 10 people have been killed after a fire broke out at a retirement home in northern Spain in the early hours of this morning, officials have said.
A further two people were seriously injured in the blaze at the residence in the town of Villafranca de Ebro in Zaragoza, according to the Spanish news website Diario Sur.
Two people remain in a critical condition following the blaze. Pic: AP
They remain in a critical condition, while several others received treatment for smoke inhalation.
Firefighters were alerted to the blaze at the residence – the Jardines de Villafranca – at 5am (4am UK time) on Friday.
Several residents were treated for smoke inhalation. Pic: AP
Those who were killed in the fire died from smoke inhalation, Spanish newspaper Heraldo reported.
The residence is home to 82 elderly residents.
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The blaze started in one of the rooms, Fernando Beltran, the national government’s top official in the region, told reporters.
All of the victims were elderly residents, he added.
Relatives wait for news outside the care home. Pic: AP
Fire crews, paramedics and police officers remain on site, said a spokesperson for the regional government of Aragon who confirmed the fatalities.
It took firefighters several hours to extinguish the blaze, they said.
The cause of the fire is unknown and is being investigated.
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