In closing his Double Ten National Day address in Taipei yesterday morning, Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) said: “I would like to thank all the wonderful friends and distinguished guests here today... and in particular our dear friends overseas... to celebrate the Republic of China’s [ROC] National Day… let us all cheer together: ‘Happy Birthday, ROC!’”It was an uplifting conclusion to a speech that was strangely out of place for the context; the preceding speech had been focused on domestic politics: a rant against the government and President William Lai (賴清德), lamenting the state of Taiwan’s democracy, dragging up the mass recall vote and Premier Cho Jung-tai’s (卓榮泰) refusal to countersign bills, and accusing Lai of orchestrating a drift toward a “dictatorship.” Not one word was said about his own failure as president of the Legislative Yuan, neither did he broach the source of the disruption or constitutional chaos that he has overseen, nor mention that the opposition’s attempts to impeach Lai were baseless and designed to sow disruption and conflict. He also expressed concerns about the “state of great confusion” Taiwanese were in, saying: “Some wish to turn Taiwan into the 51st state of the US; some wish to turn it into Japan’s fifth main island; others would like to make it China’s 31st province.” That is a curious misrepresentation, and a simplification of the reasons for these diverse aspirations. Taiwanese want Taiwan to be the Taiwan of their own choosing; the affiliations Han mentioned would surely dissipate were it not for the hostile intent of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). That, too, is a simplification, needed to question the appropriateness of Han’s discussion of it within what was supposed to be a celebratory address.
Lai in his speech set out to paint a picture of national celebration, “to cheer together for Taiwan, and to wish our nation a happy birthday and continued prosperity,” a tough proposition given Han’s doom-laden warm-up. Lai’s speech offered little that diverted from what one would expect from the presidential address. It noted the nation’s economic successes; played up the sporting achievements of Taiwanese in the just-concluded Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games; outlined domestic policies targeted at economic development, wealth distribution and the challenges of the fertility crisis; and acknowledged diplomatic achievements, such as Lai’s recent visit to the Kingdom of Eswatini and Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim’s (蕭美琴) visit to Palau and attendance at the Ventotene Conference for Freedom and Democracy in Italy. He then spoke of national defense, social resilience and safeguarding Taiwan’s sovereignty, increasing defense capabilities “not to provoke, but to deter war... not to abandon dialogue, but to ensure that dialogue can take place on the basis of equality and dignity.”This was Lai’s third national day address since becoming president in 2024. He largely followed the same basic formula as previous years, although he avoided the oblique references of last year to the nation’s history of martial law under the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). This time, he mentioned that this year marks the 30th anniversary of direct presidential elections, but only as a reference to its resilience in the face of missile threats from the CCP. He did not dwell on domestic political tensions. He was careful not to be provocative on China, but acknowledged the CCP’s continued military pressure and “gray zone” activities. Addressing the recent rupture in the international order, Lai warned of the dangers of authoritarian expansion, and said he hoped that the international community still believes that powerful countries should not deprive smaller nations of their right to determine their own future. He presented his vision of Taiwan as a “City on a Hill,” an exemplar of good governance others could aspire to. He talked about the importance of the “absolute refusal to allow the distortion of World War II history,” a direct reference to China’s attempts to commandeer the historical record to serve its own purposes, first seen at the military parade in Beijing last year to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the war. Most recently, it was seen in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) speech at the state banquet in Washington on Sept. 24. Han delivered a domestic rant, while Lai gave a message of hope, only hinting at the scale of the challenges the nation faces. His message was of the need to take a firm stand, and for other nations to take Taiwanese seriously.