Taiwan’s newly inaugurated president William Lai has called on China stop threatening the island and accept the existence of its democracy.

He urged Beijing to replace confrontation with dialogue, shortly after being sworn in on Monday.

He also said Taiwan would never back down in the face of intimidation from China, which has long claimed the island as its own.

Military incursions by China around the island’s waters and airspace have become a routine affair in the past few years, triggering fears of conflict.

But the sixty four year-old also stuck closely to the formula used by his predecessor president Tsai Ing-wen, whose legacy will be defined by her cautious but steady handling of Beijing.

Mr Lai, a doctor turned politician, won a three-way presidential race in January, securing an unprecedented third term for his Democratic Progressive Party DPP.

In his younger days, he was known to be a more radical politician who openly called for Taiwanese independence, which has not escaped Beijing.

The Chinese government is yet to issue a statement on Mr Lai’s inauguration. However, the Chinese embassy in the UK held a press briefing over the weekend, asking the UK government to not endorse it.