Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te has called for peace and dialogue with China as he completes a year in office.
According to Reuters, Lai, on the completion of a year in office on Tuesday, May 20, 2025, vowed to strengthen the security and defences of the island and offered a peace overture to China.
Responding to the reporter's questions after his formal address said, “It is the aggressor who undermines peace … Taiwan is a peace-loving nation, and our society values goodwill. I am deeply committed to peace because peace is priceless, and in war there are no winners.”
“However, whilst our pursuit of peace is sincere, it must not be naive. I also reiterate here – Taiwan is happy to have exchanges and cooperation with China as long as there is reciprocal dignity,” he added.
He also urged China to restart dialogue with his government on equal terms, “using exchanges to replace hemming in, dialogue to replace confrontation.”
China cut ties with Taiwan after Lai’s predecessor, Tsai Ing-wen of the pro-sovereignty Democratic Progressive Party, won the 2016 election, which Beijing's ruling Communist Party (CCP) considers unlawful separatists.
China on Taiwan’s peace offer
Although China's Taiwan Affairs Office has not responded to Lai’s address, the official state media, Xinhua, accused him of “deliberately escalating” cross-Strait tensions.
It said, “Since taking office, the Lai Ching-te administration has brazenly pursued ‘Taiwan independence’ to serve partisan and personal gain, charging headlong down a path of division and confrontation that threatens the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait.”
Taiwan’s offer for dialogue came after China’s military launched larger than usual numbers of planes and ships into Taiwan’s air defence identification zone.
