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F-16s flew overhead, marching bands played, and singers entertained with cultural performances during Taiwan\u2019s presidential inauguration on Monday.\xa0\nThe inauguration of President Lai Ching-te was \u201cquite the party,\u201d Asia analyst Michael Cunningham tells \u201cThe Daily Signal Podcast,\u201d after attending the event in Taiwan.\xa0\nThe new president has a challenging job in front of him as the country continues to face threats of hostility from China.\xa0\nLai\u2019s inaugural speech was overall \u201cprobably the most direct and the hardest-line inaugural address we've seen towards China yet,\u201d says\xa0Cunningham, who serves as a research fellow in The Heritage Foundation\u2019s Asian Studies Center.\xa0(Heritage founded The Daily Signal in 2014.)\nThe new president likely angered leaders in Beijing, according to Cunningham, when during the speech he said the Republic of China\u2014Taiwan\u2014and the People's Republic of China are \u201cnot subordinate to each other.\u201d While Cunningham calls this statement \u201ccommon sense,\u201d it is also \u201cnot something that you say generally if you're the president of Taiwan\u201d because China interprets this as a \u201ctwo-China philosophy,\u201d when China actually considers Taiwan a part of the mainland.\nUltimately, Cunningham says Lai is expected to seek to preserve the status quo between China and Taiwan.\nCunningham joins the show to discuss where the relationship between China and Taiwan stands and whether America\u2019s relationship with Taiwan is expected to change under Lai\u2019s presidency.\nEnjoy the show!\n Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.