21 Facts About William Lai

William Lai served as a legislator in the Legislative Yuan from 1999 to 2010, and as Mayor of Tainan from 2010 to 2017, prior to taking office as premier of the Republic of China.

William Lai mounted a challenge against Tsai in the 2019 Democratic Progressive Party presidential primary and after defeat, served as the running mate of President Tsai Ing-wen in the 2020 Taiwan presidential election in which the tandem was victorious.

William Lai then studied at the Harvard School of Public Health for a Master's degree in Public Health, followed by an internship at National Cheng Kung University Hospital.

William Lai became an expert on spinal cord damage and served as a national consultant for such injuries.

William Lai then joined the New Tide faction and stood as a candidate in the 1998 Legislative Yuan election, representing the Democratic Progressive Party in the second ward of Tainan City.

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William Lai made in 5 June 2014 a visit to the city of Shanghai to assist an exhibition of art by the late Taiwanese painter Tan Ting-pho and met politicians of the Chinese Communist Party.

William Lai stood for reelection on 29 November 2014 against Huang Hsiu-shuang of the Kuomintang.

William Lai's opponent was considered to have such an uphill task in the DPP stronghold that she rode a black horse through the streets of Tainan as an election stunt; a hopeful allusion to her status as a "dark horse".

William Lai eventually won the election by 45 percentage points, the largest margin of victory in any of the municipal races in the election.

William Lai has appeared to have moderated his position on Taiwanese independence particularly when he proposed the idea of "being close to China while loving Taiwan" in June 2017.

William Lai expressed no desire to run against Tsai Ing-wen in the 2020 presidential election.

Chen and William Lai reportedly discussed their daily lives, with William Lai wishing Chen good health.

William Lai reiterated the commitment of Tsai Ing-wen's administration to implement environmentally friendly measures, such as the use of alternative energy sources in Penghu, during his visit to check on its promotion of electric scooters.

William Lai, focusing on the problem of shortage of manpower and skilled workers, urged corporations to build better profit sharing arrangements.

William Lai stressed the importance of immigrants in addressing the nation's shortage of workers, as the Cabinet revealed its plan for the immigration of workers from nations targeted by the government's New Southbound Policy.

William Lai said that this was not a small percentage and that he hoped to hear suggestions on the issue from the conference.

On November 25, in an event that marked the establishment of an association for promoting mobile payment, William Lai said the government has been trying to push for the development of mobile payment solutions, hoping that with the help from the private sector, the use of mobile payment platforms in the country would reach 90 percent by 2025.

William Lai said in order to increase the popularity of mobile payment, the Executive Yuan revised and implemented policies that would help better develop such payment solutions throughout the country.

William Lai emphasized the government's determination to create a "smart country" where not only mobile payment but artificial intelligence, big data, virtual and augmented reality would prosper.

William Lai instructed Minister Without Portfolio Lo Ping-cheng to establish such a committee by nominating a list of members, drafting the organizational regulations and planning a budget.

On 18 March 2019, William Lai Ching-te registered to run in the Democratic Progressive Party presidential primary, saying that he could shoulder the responsibility of leading Taiwan in defending itself from being annexed by China.