In 2014, as a rising star in Taiwan, Lai Qingde visited China. Some people asked him the most instigated issue for mainland China in public: his political party's independent position on Taiwan.
According to the person who knows him, he answered the question politely but firmly at the time, showing the characteristics of the person who was elected in Taiwan on Saturday and was about to lead Taiwan in the next four years.
Lai Qingde communicated with professors at the famous Shanghai Fudan University at that time. Like many people in mainland China, participants who participated in Taiwan were almost sure that Taiwan belonged to China.
Lai Qingde said that although his Democratic Progressive Party has proposed the party's platform that advocates Taiwan's independence (mainland China opposes Taiwan's independence), the party also believes that any change in Taiwan's status must be determined by all people.He said that the DPP just reflects public opinion, not dominating public opinion.Lai Qingde said that the DPP's position has passed the great consensus of the (Taiwan) society.
Regardless of his supporters or opponents, Lai Qingde's response revealed his sense of frankness and sometimes indignation. It is one of the main characteristics of this doctor's political figure. He will take over in May this year as Tsai Ing -wenLeader position.
He chose to be stubborn, and he was distinguished by good and evil. Pan Xin, a DPP official in Tainan, southern Taiwan, said.Right, right, wrong is wrong, he is very persistent.When visiting Fudan in 2014, Lai Qingde's identity was the mayor of Tainan City.
The 64 -year -old Lai Qingde is the son of the miner.He is famous for his proficient and diligent political figures. He believes that his civilian background can let him understand the needs of ordinary people in Taiwan.However, he may not be good at dealing with the danger of dealing with Beijing.
Supporters were taken on Saturday at the Lai Qingde election rally in Taipei.LAM YIK Fei for the New York Times
Lai Qingde may need to pay attention to the tendency of improvisation occasionally, Beijing may use his speech to create crisis.
I don't think Lai Qingde really wants to pursue legal independence. Scholar Middot; Sax said at the US Foreign Relations Commission who studies Taiwan issues.But I am really worried that Lai Qingde has no experience in foreign policy and cross -strait relations. Cross -strait relations are extremely complicated issues, and he is easy to make a mistake for a while to give Beijing the opportunity.
Those who know Lai Qingde often describe him in stubbornness and firmness in interviews.However, as a Taiwan leader, Lai Qingde may have to show certain flexibility when dealing with the Legislative Yuan led by the opposition party. The opposition legislator has let go and must carefully review his policies.
As the leader of the DPP to get the third term, Lai Qingde needs to pay great attention to the emotions of the people in Taiwan. Wang Dingyu, the DPP legislator Wang Dingyu, who has an influential DPP, said in an interview before the election.
How do you convince the people and keep politics clean and clean. This is what mature political parties will face, Wang Dingyu said.Then you must keep in mind that the public will not give you too much space to make mistakes, he will not forgive you.
One of the most successful ads played by Lai Qingde during the campaign was that he was sitting on the car where Tsai Ing -wen drove, and the two talked calmly about the time they worked together.When Tsai Ing -wen gave the car key to Lai Qingde, who had been the deputy leader since 2020, the information passed by this advertisement was clear: if he won in the election, it would be assured that there would be a reassuring continuity.
Regardless of the continuity of Tsai Ing -wen and Lai Qingde in terms of policy, they still have quite different leaders and have very different backgrounds.Tsai Ing -wen, who led Taiwan for eight years, is still loved and respected by many people.However, during the ruling, she also showed a reserved technical bureaucrat, and rarely held a press conference.
Tsai Ing -wen promoted as responsible for the negotiations of the trade agreement and formulated officials in the mainland policy.In contrast, the background of the mayor has made Lai Qingde more sensitive to problems such as rising house prices and shortage of employment opportunities, and his supporters said.
Lai Qingde came along the way, from the grassroots mdash; mdash; the legislator, mayor, and executive dean of the National University representative Mdash; mdash; this step climbed up, the DPP's long -term activist Zeng Junren of Tainan.He has passed through the cold and poor, so he knows the pain of the people at the grassroots grassroots at the grassroots level.
Tsai Ing -wen and Lai Qingde are not always ally.After the DPP defeated in the election, under the leadership of Tsai Ing -wen, he re -controlled power in 2016.Lai Qingde once served as the president of the executive under Tsai Ing -wen, and later resigned due to the DPP's local election. He boldly challenged Cai Yingwen in the party's primary election before the 2020 election.
Lai Qingde (left) and Tsai Ing -wen (middle) at a rally this month.Mike Kai Chen for the New York Times
Tsai Ing -wen joined the DPP as an outsider. At that time, the Democratic Progressive Party needed an outsider. Zhou Yicheng, who had served as a senior official in the DPP, said that he knew the latter when Lai Qingde began to politics.But Lai Qingde is different.He grew up with the DPP.
Lai Qingde's childhood was spent in Wanli Township, northern Taiwan.His father is a coal miner.When he was a baby, his father died of carbon monoxide in the well, leaving Lai Qingde's mother to stroke six children alone.
In the campaign, Lai Qingde mentioned that he had suffered in the past and regarded him as part of his political personality.
In a video, he said that his family had lived in a miner's dormitory in the town. The house would leak water when it rains. They had to cover the lead plate on the roof, but this was not unusable.When the typhoon comes, it will blow away the coverage, he said.
Lai Qingde continued to study in school, and later studied in the medical school.After taking the military service, he became a doctor in Tainan City.At that time, Taiwan just started to get rid of the Kuomintang's decades of dictatorship. The Kuomintang leader fled from mainland China to Taiwan after being defeated by Mao Zedong's army.
Lai Qingde joined the Democratic Progressive Party, which was very immature at the time and was very immature at the time. He later recalled that when he decided to abandon his medical career in politics, his mother was disappointed with him.
He was reluctant to agree with his mother, and Taiwanese reporter Zhou Yukou wrote in the biography of Lai Qingde, which was recently written.When Lai Qingde decided to run for the National Parliament seat for the first time in 1996, Zhou Yukou wrote that Lai Qingde's mother said to him: She can't choose to be a doctor.
But Lai Qingde showed his natural political talents.He rises quickly, which is due to his diligence, young and handsome appearance, and his eloquence, especially his ability to speak in Taiwanese. This is the first language of many people on the island of Taiwan, especially inSaid Zhou Yicheng, a former party official in Tainan, said.
Lai Qingde later became a Taiwan legislator, and Yu QingdeIn 2010, he served as the mayor of Tainan City.Later, he served as the executive dean and deputy leader under Cai Yingwen.The good -looking personality he showed in his political career provided ammunition for those who criticized him, but also won the followers in the party.
The Democratic Progressive Party supported him a video of a video in 2005. In the video, he criticized the opposition Kuomintang legislators in the Legislative Yuan in the video to prevent a budget proposal to buy American submarines, fighters and missiles.The country is broken by you!He said that he also used swear words.You block everything.
When he served as the president of the Executive President in 2017, Lai Qingde said the most often quoted by his critics.Under the inquiry of members of the Taiwan Legislative Yuan, Lai Qingde claimed that he was a pragmatic Taiwan independenceist.
At that time, the Taiwan Affairs Office of the Mainland Government condemned the remarks; since then, the critics of the mainland government and Lai Qingde in Taiwan have always regarded this sentence as evidence that he pursues independence without fear.However, Lai Qingde's statement is more extensive and consistent with the DPP strictly controlling the tension of Taiwan's status. The DPP believes that Taiwan is an independent objective existence because it is a democratic government of autonomy.
Nevertheless, Lai Qingde will still face tremendous pressure to avoid expressing such remarks.Mainland China has become more powerful, and it is becoming more and more willing to use force to pressure Taiwan in the mainland.In the lecture on the election night, Lai Qingde emphasized his hope of talking to Beijing.
He used vaguely that in what I heard, he did not use any language that the mainland thought could not tolerate, and said at the Hoover Research Institute to study Taiwan and observe Taiwan's election researcher Kharis Templeman.He gave himself a chance to avoid or delay at least postponed Beijing.
