The newly inaugurated president of the Republic of China, William Lai, has outraged Communist China on his first day in office by appearing much closer to declaring Taiwan as a nation independent of China than did the woman whom he succeeded, Tsai Ing-wen. 

Mr. Lai had long since infuriated Beijing by saying that Taiwan is an “independent, sovereign country.” Then, fending off criticism that his hawkish stance might provoke the Chinese party boss, Xi Jinping, to invade, he defended the status quo while running for president.

Now, judging by his inaugural call for Taiwanese “to defend our nation” against “China’s military actions” and “many threats,” Mr. Lai no longer appears conciliatory.  His remarks set the stage for  another act in the long-running drama of Communist claims to the island democracy that Washington vows to defend.

The Chinese national news agency, Xinhua, reported the spokesman for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, Chen Xinhua,  decried Mr. Lai for “a dangerous signal” in which he  “stubbornly followed the ‘Taiwan independence’ stance, wantonly advocated separatism, incited cross-Strait confrontation and sought independence by relying on foreign support and by force” — a reference to Republic of China’s relationship with Washington.

The Global Times, published by the Chinese Communist Party paper, People’s Daily, quotes one analyst as warning that China’s huge army was “always ready” if Mr. Lai “insists on making irresponsible secessionist moves” — referring  to his view that Taiwan is an independent state. As if to prove nothing had changed, the People’s Republic  before the inauguration increased the number of its ships and planes on patrol around the democratic redoubt.

Alert for what may be another showdown with Beijing, Mr. Lai, whose Chinese name is Lai Ching-te, appears eager to increase military ties with Washington.  Although Washington has no treaty with Taiwan and conducts all relations through an “institute” that replaced the embassy on January 1, 1979, Secretary of State Blinken made headlines in Taiwan with an artfully calibrated message of congratulations to Mr. Lai .

“The partnership between the American people and the Taiwan people, rooted in democratic values, continues to broaden and deepen across trade, economic, cultural, and people-to-people ties,” the secretary said. “We look forward to working with President Lai and across Taiwan’s political spectrum to advance our shared interests and values, deepen our longstanding unofficial relationship, and maintain peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.”

The language employed by American and Chinese officialdom was an exercise in double talk. Just as Mr. Blinken avoided referring to the Taiwan “government,” so the Communist Chinese press referred to Mr. Lai as the “secessionist leader” and a “regional leader,” not as “president” of anything. Washington and Taipei have no defense treaty, but Washington  is still committed to Taiwan’s defense — much more so since China began, during Speaker Pelosi’s visit two years ago, encircling the island by air and sea.

Mr. Lai sees the relationship as working well considering about 200 American advisers are on the island training Taiwanese on new weaponry, including missiles, and American and Taiwan naval vessels are conducting joint exercises. 

“Just last month, the United States made into law the Indo-Pacific Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2024,” Mr. Lai noted in an address that was sure to upset Beijing. “This will provide the Indo-Pacific region with additional security and assistance, thereby supporting the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait.”

No matter what, Beijing was sure to”react badly,” said a former assistant secretary of state for Asia and the Pacific, Danny Russel.  “There is virtually nothing that Lai could have said, short of ‘unconditional surrender,’ that would satisfy Beijing,” the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong quoted him as saying. 

Still more vituperations — mingled with threats —  appear certain as Mr. Lai, who was vice president in Ms.Tsai’s administration, gets into his job. His predecessors were “circumspect around the time of the inaugurations,” said the Global Times, but then became “more and more provocative.” Therefore “the state of cross-Straits relations will not be optimistic.”

Mr. Lai also has to worry about severe opposition from the Nationalist or Kuomintang Party as seen in a wild fracas that broke out in Taiwan’s legislative yuan where the Kuomintang has one more seat than his Democratic Progressive Party. Pictures appeared in the Taiwan press of members punching, kicking, and scratching one another.