(TibetanReview.net, May21’24) — Along with the swearing in of Mr Lai Ching-te (alias William Lai) as its new President, Taiwan also installed a new parliament on May 20, with its interested members launching a new Tibet group on the same day to take up issues concerned with the over-70-year Chinese occupied Himalayan territory and its ethnically suppressed people.
Meanwhile, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, has on May 21 congratulated Lai on his assumption of the presidency of the Republic of China, as Taiwan is officially known.
Wishing him “success in meeting the challenges that lie ahead in fulfilling the hopes and aspirations of the people of Taiwan,” the Dalai Lama has said it was “wonderful to see how firmly rooted democracy has become in Taiwan.
The Taiwanese people have not only developed a flourishing, robust democracy, but have also achieved great prosperity, while at the same time preserving their rich cultural traditions.”
Like Lai, China condemns the Dalai Lama as a separatist, although he only seeks genuine autonomy for his homeland. China insists Tibet is already autonomous, although it is more directly and tightly controlled from Beijing than the Chinese provinces and regions.
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Apart from being guests at Lai’s inauguration, the delegation of five members from the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) attended an event for the re-establishment of the Taiwanese parliamentary group for Tibet, said the CTA on its Tibet.net website May 21.
It is not clear how many members the group has, who its leaders are, and which parties they belong to. The Tibet.net report only said that on May 19, lawmaker Hung Sun-han, Vice Chair of the Taiwanese parliamentary group for Tibet, hosted a dinner reception for the visiting CTA delegation.
The report also said that on May 18, Taiwanese legislators Hung Sun-han and Prof. Wu Hao-ren, as representatives of the Taiwan Parliament group for Tibet, addressed a “Tashi Delek Taiwan” event organized by the Human Rights Network for Tibet and Taiwan. Others who participated in the event have included the CTA delegation members: Ms Dolma Tsering Teykhang (Dy Speaker), Ms Norzin Dolma (Minister, Department of Information and International Relations-DIIR), and Tibetan Parliament in Exile members Ven. Tenpa Yarphel and Mr Tashi Dhondup, and DIIR Secretary Mr Karma Choeying.
The report said the CTA delegation met with high-level officials of the government of Taiwan in the office of the Tibet Religious Foundation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama (Office of Tibet-Taiwan) in the evening on May 19.
It was not clear whether the lawmakers and government officials the CTA delegation engaged with before May 20 were from the outgoing on incoming government and parliament.
The report said that on May 20, after attending the event for the swearing in of the new President and Vice President of Taiwan, the CTA delegation attended the re-establishment ceremony of the 11th Taiwanese Parliamentary Group for Tibet in Taipei.
Representatives from the Taiwan immigration office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Culture were stated to have attended the re-establishment ceremony.
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Meanwhile, China has issued a flurry of more condemnations of Lai over his swearing in ceremony address, which was seen as being more confrontational than that of his predecessor Tsai Ing-wen at the start of her term in 2016.
Unlike Tsai, who acknowledged the 1992 consensus – a tacit agreement between Beijing and Taipei that there is one China but each side of the Taiwan Strait can have its own interpretation of what constitutes “China” – Lai did not mention it, noted the scmp.com May 21.
Instead, he said that Beijing had to “face the reality of the Republic of China’s existence” – using Taiwan’s official name – while “the Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other”.
China interpreted these remarks as a clear call to action for Taiwan independence – a red line that must not be crossed, according to Beijing which regards the island as part of its territory, to be eventually brought under mainland control.
“His words are filled with sinister intentions to seek independence through external means and to use military force to achieve it, once again revealing his stubborn stance on ‘Taiwan independence’,” the report quoted a People’s Daily commentary as saying.
It was stated to have warned that Lai’s words would only serve to further divide Taiwan from the mainland and escalate tensions between the two sides.
The commentary was stated to have labelled Lai’s pledge that he would strive to maintain the status quo as “a complete charade”, adding he had “long been engaged in separatist activities but he pretends to be a champion of peace. This is the most shameless and unscrupulous act.”
Also, in a series of articles published in the PLA Daily, senior officials were reported to have criticised Lai’s speech as a “provocation” and a “threat to regional peace and stability”, accusing the new president of attempting to “split China” and “create chaos in the region”.
However, the report noted that despite the furious media response, Beijing has been somewhat restrained in terms of military manoeuvring, with the Taiwanese defence ministry reporting low activity in the 24 hours to 6am on May 21.