Lai Ching-te inaugurated as Taiwan's president: 'Peace is priceless and war has no winners'

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00:00 "Peace is priceless and war has no winners."

00:03 Those were the somber words from Taiwan's newly inaugurated President William Lai as

00:08 he took to the stage just behind me earlier during the inauguration ceremony.

00:12 Now somber words coming from him, but the ceremony itself was anything but.

00:16 We saw a colourful display of Taiwanese culture.

00:18 Rappers, singers, drummers, dancers and even dragons taking to the stage to perform in

00:23 front of hundreds or thousands of people that turned out to see their president's first

00:27 day in office.

00:28 One of the key things that he touched on in his inaugural speech of course was maintaining

00:32 relations between Taiwan and China.

00:34 China which claims sovereignty over Taiwan and has increased military and political pressure

00:38 on the islands in recent years.

00:41 He said that he's going to tread in the footsteps of his predecessor Tsai Ing-wen and maintain

00:45 the status quo across the Taiwan Strait.

00:48 He also said that the responsibility for maintaining peace rests on the shoulders of the decision

00:52 makers in Beijing and in Taipei.

00:55 One other thing that he touched on was the economy.

00:57 He said he wants to turbocharge Taiwanese productivity, make Taiwan an AI island and

01:03 increase regional cooperation with other countries around him to boost the economy in Taiwan.

01:08 That's something that people here will be very happy to hear.

01:10 Young people I've spoken to have said that while GDP has been growing here, they don't

01:14 feel like Taiwan's economy is serving them.

01:16 So while the ride to the inauguration this morning in his presidential motorcade may

01:20 have been a smooth one, it looks like it's going to be a bumpy road ahead for the new

01:24 president.

01:24 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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