ADDS CHINA'S MOVE TO BAN US DEFENSE FIRMS, BACKGROUND
By Riyaz ul Khaliq
ISTANBUL (AA) - William Lai Ching-te began his term as Taiwan's eighth president after taking the oath of office early Monday, succeeding the island nation's only woman chief executive, Tsai Ing-wen.
Hsiao Bi-khim, Taiwan's former representative to the US, was also sworn in as vice president.
China despises Tsai’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, which lost its majority in the regional legislative assembly to the opposition Kuomintang. Beijing has also called Lai a "dangerous separatist."
As Lai was sworn-in, China's Commerce Ministry announced the inclusion of certain companies on its unreliable entities list as they sold arms to Taiwan. They included General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, General Dynamics Land Systems and Boeing Defense, Space & Security.
Beijing barred their senior executives from entering China and will revoke their work permits along with their visitor and residential status, the ministry said.
Lai, 64, was elected in January to succeed Tsai.
He won with around 40.5% of the vote in the presidential race, with a turnout of 69.24%. This was out of roughly 19 million registered voters on the more than 23-million-strong island, which sits across the Taiwan Strait south of mainland China.
Around 508 foreign guests were expected to attend Lai's inauguration ceremony, including an "unofficial" delegation from the US.
China considers Taiwan its "breakaway province" while Taipei has maintained its independence since 1949.
To the chagrin of Beijing, engagements between Taipei and Washington have increased in recent years, with the US supplying Taiwan with arms and weaponry worth billions of dollars.