# Inaugural address says the ROC and PRC are not subordinate; PLA Joint Sword-2024A follows as neighbour

Date: 2024

## The fact

On 20 May 2024 President [Lai Ching-te](/people/lai-ching-te)’s inaugural address said the Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other and called on Beijing to stop military intimidation. Beijing labelled the speech an independence confession. On 23 May the PLA Eastern Theater Command opened Joint Sword-2024A around Taiwan. The drills are a neighbouring PRC act. He did not write a PLA communique.

## Context

He had just taken the oath. Tsai’s two terms sat as parent. Neighbouring LY without a DPP majority had already convened. He did not sit as Eastern Theater Command. A speech is not a missile.

The 20 May oath is the parent rotation.

The president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) is head of state under the Additional Articles and commander-in-chief. He does not write a PLA communique, a TSMC capex print, or a Legislative Yuan majority. A National Day address is not a completed interceptor. An inaugural line is not a PLA missile. A special-act press conference is not a passed statute. William Lai is a common English name for the same person; the stored English name is Lai Ching-te.

## Evidence and sources

Office of the President ROC (Taiwan) carries the official instrument or communique. Reuters records the same dated act independently.

## Significance

## What is established and what is not

Established: 20 May 2024 inaugural text independently reported; Joint Sword-2024A independently reported as a PRC response from 23 May.

Not established: that he uniquely authored the PLA order, or a unique later casualty coefficient from that Thursday.

What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date or name, a later repeal, a court that vacated the instrument, or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of later institutions.

The date is the date of this instrument, not a licence to back-date every later harm or benefit.

The PLA opened Joint Sword-2024A. Xi’s Eastern Theater Command wrote that communique. Store complex.. A later repeal, court stay, or successor order would be a different Fact with a different date. That pair identifies Inaugural address says the ROC and PRC are not subordinate; PLA Joint Sword-2024A follows as neighbour, not a later speech about Inaugural address says the ROC and PRC are not subordinate; PLA Joint Sword-2024A follows as neighbour.

Co-authors and later implementers named in Context remain on the file. Inaugural address says the ROC and PRC are not subordinate; PLA Joint Sword-2024A follows as neighbour on 2024-05-20 is not a licence to treat every later Office of the President ROC (Taiwan) communique as this same act. If a later repeal, stay, or successor instrument exists, it needs its own date and its own row. This dossier refuses to average Inaugural address says the ROC and PRC are not subordinate; PLA Joint Sword-2024A follows as neighbour into a personality. The contribution described on this Person row is limited to He spoke the line. The PLA opened Joint Sword-2024A. Xi’s Eastern Theater Command wrote that communique. Store complex. That limit is the alternative to treating office-holding as authorship of every later series.

## People

- Lai Ching-te: https://factrail.ai/people/lai-ching-te

## Drivers

- Political Polarization: https://factrail.ai/drivers/political-polarization
- Energy Security: https://factrail.ai/drivers/energy-security

## Sources

- https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/china-starts-military-drills-around-taiwan-days-after-new-president-takes-office-2024-05-23/
- https://english.president.gov.tw/Page/651

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/tw-lai-strait-speech-2024