KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan — Taiwanese President William Lai is struggling to contain both open hostility and private “wooing” by China. In late March, four Taiwanese soldiers, three of whom were part of a unit that provides security for Taiwan’s Presidential Office, were jailed for up to seven years after being convicted of selling pictures of sensitive information to China. 

The verdicts came after last month’s speech in which Lai condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the harshest terms used by a Taiwanese leader in modern history. In his remarks, the president said Taiwan will not be “bullied or manipulated” and promised repercussions against those who make “expressions of loyalty to the enemy.”

Lai, aware of Beijing’s “carrot and stick” campaign, warned Taiwanese to be wary of China’s “United Front,” a political strategy employed by the CCP in which they – with plenty of smiles and often “investment” capital – enter international organizations and various influential groups and plant agents who then build alliances with targeted individuals, political parties and other interests.

Taiwanese National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu, President William Lai and Defense Minister Wellington Koo are shown at the Songshan military airbase in Taipei on March 21, 2025. (I-HWA CHENG/AFP via Getty Images)

Taiwan has some of the most liberal free-speech laws in Asia; here one can stand near government buildings, wave China’s national flag and advocate for communism without fear of arrest. But calling for the “violent overthrow of Taiwan’s government by the military of the People’s Republic of China” is a red line, which internet influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” crossed, according to Taiwan’s Ministry of the Interior. “Yaya,” a Chinese national whose real name is Liu Zhenya, lived in Taiwan on a spousal visa and has three children with her Taiwanese husband.

But instead of treating her visa as a privilege, says Taiwan’s government, “Yaya” openly supported the forceful annexation of Taiwan by China. Yaya’s defenders argue that she, and others recently evicted from Taiwan, are being selectively prosecuted.

Yet some here are not buying Lai’s threats. Dr. Huang Kwei-bo, a professor in the Department of Diplomacy at Taiwan’s National Chengchi University, told Fox News Digital that all this “get tough with China” talk is mostly political theater: “These dramatic Lai administration policy proposals are firstly maneuvers aimed at regaining control over Taiwan’s parliament, as well as building momentum for upcoming local elections in late 2026.”

Huang also said Taiwan’s ruling party, the DPP, is “crying out to get the Trump administration’s attention in the hope that Trump’s officials will be more willing to endorse the DPP in power and work with, or include, the Lai administration in any ‘countering China’ policy.”

A pro-independence activist displays a flag in the Ximen District of Taipei on Feb. 3, 2024. (SAM YEH/AFP via Getty Images)

Taipei-based political risk analyst and lawyer Ross Darrell Feingold said Lai’s moves correspond with the tough-on-China approach of Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other China hard-liners in the Trump administration: “The Trump administration will want to see a government in Taiwan that is equally tough on China as the United States, whether in the political, trade or military spheres.”

A broad majority of Taiwanese appear to want tougher measures against acts that threaten Taiwan’s national sovereignty, but some analysts note the new tough talk has arrived just in time for Lai’s party as it hopes to succeed in an ongoing effort to remove opposition Chinese Nationalist Party legislators from office, win control of municipal governments in local elections in November 2026 and then help Lai secure a second term in 2028.