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00:00 "Peace is priceless and war has no winners."
00:03 Those were the somber words from Taiwan's newly inaugurated President William Lai as
00:08 he took to the stage just behind me earlier during the inauguration ceremony.
00:12 Now somber words coming from him, but the ceremony itself was anything but.
00:16 We saw a colourful display of Taiwanese culture.
00:18 Rappers, singers, drummers, dancers and even dragons taking to the stage to perform in
00:23 front of hundreds or thousands of people that turned out to see their president's first
00:27 day in office.
00:28 One of the key things that he touched on in his inaugural speech of course was maintaining
00:32 relations between Taiwan and China.
00:34 China which claims sovereignty over Taiwan and has increased military and political pressure
00:38 on the islands in recent years.
00:41 He said that he's going to tread in the footsteps of his predecessor Tsai Ing-wen and maintain
00:45 the status quo across the Taiwan Strait.
00:48 He also said that the responsibility for maintaining peace rests on the shoulders of the decision
00:52 makers in Beijing and in Taipei.
00:55 One other thing that he touched on was the economy.
00:57 He said he wants to turbocharge Taiwanese productivity, make Taiwan an AI island and
01:03 increase regional cooperation with other countries around him to boost the economy in Taiwan.
01:08 That's something that people here will be very happy to hear.
01:10 Young people I've spoken to have said that while GDP has been growing here, they don't
01:14 feel like Taiwan's economy is serving them.
01:16 So while the ride to the inauguration this morning in his presidential motorcade may
01:20 have been a smooth one, it looks like it's going to be a bumpy road ahead for the new
01:24 president.
01:24 [BLANK_AUDIO]