Taiwan's President-Elect Lai Ching-te Picks His National Security Team
President-elect Lai Ching-te has announced his picks for Taiwan's national security team. We take a look at the names for clues as to what can be expected from his term in office.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Taiwan's President-elect Lai Ching-te has picked his national security team, a line-up
00:05of ministers who will guide the country on its foreign policy, defense strategy and navigating
00:10its tough relations with China.
00:12To bring us more on the incoming cabinet, Louise Wa is live with us from Taipei.
00:17Louise, what is significant about these appointments?
00:22These are the names that we've been waiting for.
00:25We've seen today the announcements for the ministers tasked with strengthening Taiwan's
00:30international relations and managing its defense in the face of threats from China.
00:36And Lai says his national security team has the real remit of protecting Taiwan.
00:55The national security team includes a new defense minister, Wellington Gu, and the new
01:20head of the National Security Council is a face familiar internationally as the foreign
01:24minister Joseph Wu.
01:27Lai says he's chosen his national security team based on three criteria.
01:32Number one, their professionalism.
01:34Number two, the fact that they've worked together before.
01:37And number three, that they share a sense of mission, namely safeguarding Taiwan against
01:43Chinese aggression.
01:46Do the appointments give any clue about what we can expect from Lai's term?
01:53The big names announced today have all worked under President Tsai Ing-wen and I think it's
01:58pretty clear that what Lai is doing is signaling continuity.
02:03He's signaling that his team has experience and he's also signaling that he's following
02:08in Tsai's footsteps so that he's not going to rock the boat by doing anything that could
02:13be construed as provoking China.
02:17Now, who is he signaling to?
02:19China, which considers Lai a separatist.
02:22He's also signaling to the United States, which is Taiwan's most important international
02:28backer.
02:29And I think he's probably also sending a message to members of his own party.
02:34Because let's not forget, in 2019, Lai challenged Tsai for the leadership.
02:40So he probably wants to ease concerns among members of the Tsai faction who probably still
02:46distrust him.
02:47I've been talking to analysts today who say that once Lai has reassured all these people,
02:54he may well move to gradually change his team to bring in his own people.
03:01So today's announcements are largely in line with expectations.
03:06Lai is the continuity figure, the Tsai Ing-wen 2.0, if you like.
03:11But once he's reassured everyone, we may well see a different Lai step forward.