By EPN Reporter
MBABANE – Incoming Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te has promised to follow on President Tsai Ing-wen’s foreign policy and solidify Taiwan’s relations with other countries, including Eswatini.
President Lai said this on Friday last week, when she met Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Pholile Shakantu. During their meeting, President Lai expressed pride in the profound friendship, emphasising Taiwan and Eswatini as great partners and a family. He pledged to continue President Tsai’s pragmatic foreign policy, solidifying the enduring friendship.
In response, Minister Shakantu assured President Lai of Eswatini’s enduring commitment as Taiwan’s strongest ally, and Eswatini would continue advocating for Taiwan’s participation in multilateral organisations.
According to various online media reports, President Lai was elected president on January 13, 2024 with a plurality of 40.05 percent and is scheduled to be inaugurated on 20 May 2024. Outgoing President Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the incumbent president of the Republic of China (Taiwan), was ineligible for re-election due to term limits. As such, the DPP nominated Vice President Lai Ching-te, who had secured the party chairmanship by acclamation in March 2023.
President Lai outsmarted other presidential election candidates, who included Hou Yu-ih (who got 33.49 percent) and Ko Wen-je (26.46 percent). The candidates stood for elections as leaders of Kuomintang (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), respectively.
Although the KMT and TPP had initially agreed to field a joint ticket in November 2023, the two sides were unable to reach a final agreement, and each announced their own vice presidential candidate on the last day of registration. This presidential election had a turnout rate of 71.86%. This marked the first time since the 2000 election that the winning candidate obtained less than 50% of the vote, and the first time that a party won more than two consecutive presidential elections since direct elections were introduced in 1996.
