William Lai Ching-te, of Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), was sworn in as president of the self-governing democratic island on Monday.

In his inauguration speech, Lai vowed to defend the island's democracy, and called on China to end its military intimidation.

"In face of the many threats and attempts of infiltration from China, we must demonstrate our resolution to defend our nation and we must also raise our defense awareness and strengthen our legal framework for national security," the new president said.

Beijing claims Taiwan as its own territory. And under China's leader Xi Jinping's rule over the past decade, it has intensified its determination to "reunify" with the island.

China has previously branded Lai as a "dangerous separatist." Hours after his inauguration on Monday, Beijing responded saying that "Taiwan independence is a dead end."

The results of Taiwan's presidential and parliamentary elections, held in January, came out as bad news to Beijing and would likely keep both sides in a continuous icy relationship, experts told DW.

Before the elections, China had framed the vote as a choice between "war and peace" and said Lai, if elected as president, would be a threat to regional peace.

Despite the warnings, the 64-year-old won around 40% of votes in a tight three-way race with Hou Yu-ih from the main opposition party Kuomintang (KMT) and Ko Wen-je from the relatively new Taiwan People's........

© Deutsche Welle