Taiwan Vice President Lai Ching-te, a key candidate in next year's presidential election, pledged on Sunday to foster unity in Taiwanese society and show the island's determination to cherish democracy and peace.
Speaking at the Democratic Progressive Party's national congress in Taipei ahead of the next presidential and island-wide legislative elections to be held in January 2024, Lai, who is also the ruling party's chairman, said Taiwan is not a part of China.
Taiwan and mainland China have been governed separately since they split due to a civil war in 1949. Beijing considers Taipei a renegade province that must be reunified with the mainland, even if it requires the use of force.
"Taiwan is once again at the crossroads of democracy and autocracy," said Lai, who has long been regarded as "deep green" -- shorthand for more pro-independence leanings within the DPP.
Lai urged support from his party comrades as he vowed to lead Taiwan forward by using "peace as a beacon and democracy as a compass to ride the waves of complex geopolitics."
Throwing in her support for Lai, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, who is ineligible to seek a third consecutive term, said the government is committed to maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait while promising to maintain the status quo.
Two other key candidates in the upcoming presidential election -- New Taipei Mayor Hou Yu-ih of the main opposition Nationalist Party and former Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je, chairman of the opposition Taiwan People's Party -- attended a housing justice and judicial reform rally on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office.
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