"I sincerely hope that China will have the confidence to cooperate with the legitimate and democratically elected government that the people of Taiwan have entrusted. This is the right path for cross-strait exchanges," Lai, the leader of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), told a press conference. If Beijing authorities are only willing to engage on "conditions" set by the opposition, referring to the island's main opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), such exchanges "will fail to win the trust and support" of Taiwanese society, Lai said. "If things continue as they are, it will not necessarily be beneficial to China and will not have a positive impact on the peaceful development of both sides of the Taiwan Strait," said Lai, who was introducing his team for foreign policy, national security and defense. Since the DPP came to power on the island in 2016, relations between China and Taiwan have cooled, with official dialogue between Taipei and Beijing suspended for the past eight years, military tensions in the Strait have increased and Chinese authorities have hardened their rhetoric in favor of "national reunification." Beijing insists that any dialogue with the government of Taiwan must take place on the basis that both sides of the Strait belong to "one China," a position defended by the KMT leadership but flatly rejected by the DPP, whose leaders argue that such dialogue should be conducted on terms of "equality." Chinese President Xi Jinping assured former Taiwanese leader Ma Ying-jeou (KMT) on April 10 that "no force can separate Taiwan from China" and that "differences" in the political systems of the two "cannot change the fact that the two sides are one country." "As long as there is no separation, as long as both sides recognize that they are Chinese, compatriots on both sides of the Strait can sit together, start contacts and carry out exchanges as members of one family," Xi said. Taiwan's president-elect — considered an "independence advocate" in the eyes of Beijing — and the rest of his government will take office on May 20. Also Read: Taiwan's president-elect keeps members of previous government (Portuguese version)