Taiwan president-elect Lai Ching-te has steered the island toward democracy and away from China

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Lai Ching-te, Taiwan’s president-elect, has vowed to safeguard the island’s de-facto independence from China and further align it with other democracies.

Lai, 64, emerged victorious in the election Saturday on the island of 23 million people that China claims as its own. He is currently vice president with the Democratic Progressive Party, which has rejected China’s sovereignty claims over Taiwan.

As he faced his supporters Saturday night, Lai vowed Taiwan would “continue to walk side by side with democracies from around the world.”

“We are telling the international community that between democracy and authoritarianism, we will stand on the side of democracy,” he said.

Lai has vowed to strengthen the island’s defense and economy, which depends heavily on trade with China. He has also made an effort to soften his earlier stance as a “pragmatic worker for Taiwan independence.”

At the same time, the new president has expressed desire to restart dialogue with China, which has refused to communicate with the island’s leaders in recent years.

“We are ready and willing to engage to show more for the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. Peace is priceless and war has no winners,” he said earlier in the week.

His chances of success in talking to China, however, are close to null, analysts say.

“Beijing has repeatedly criticized not just DPP more broadly, but has actually criticized Lai Ching-te by name,” said Wen-Ti Sung, a fellow with U.S. think tank Atlantic Council. “It’s something that Beijing usually only does when they think there’s very little chance of the two sides ever repairing ties.”

Instead, Sung added, China will likely resort to a “maximum pressure campaign,” including military and economic