The United States on Saturday congratulated Dr. Tsai Ing-wen on her victory in Taiwan’s presidential election.
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During her visit to Yamaguchi Prefecture last October, Tsai Ing-wen, leader of Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party, posed beneath a calligraphic text by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that read “solitary and motionless”, words from an ancient Chinese commentary on Yi Jing, or “The Book of Changes”.
Its disastrous defeat tapped into frustration and fear that the island’s sovereignty is being eroded by China after an eight-year rapprochement under outgoing President Ma Ying-jeou. The election could increase the tiny island’s tensions with Beijing, as Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party has long advocated independence from China.
The Taiwanese opposition leader, however, reaffirmed her intentions to defend Taiwan’s interests and its sovereignty.
China sees the island as a breakaway province – which it has threatened to take back by force if necessary.
“Our democracy, national identity and worldwide space must be fully respected and any suppression would undermine the stability of cross-Strait relations”, she said. Taiwan is officially known as the Republic of China, and while the island is technically a sovereign state, mainland China (the People’s Republic of China, or PRC) sees Taiwan as under its authority.
Ma also proposed to name a premier with interparty support to replace Mao Chi-kuo, who stepped down earlier in the evening after the DPP won the majority seats in the simultaneous legislative elections for the first time in history.
“What happened surrounding Chou Tzu-yu, that whole controversy, made it nearly a given (Tsai) would get over the 50 percent mark”, said Raymond Wu, managing director of Taipei-based political risk consultancy e-telligence. “If mainland China democratizes someday, we could consider a tie-up”, he added.
The new president will have a balancing act of her own, as her party has previously called for full independence from the mainland.
The election came just months after a historic meeting between the leaders of Taiwan and China. “We also congratulate the people of Taiwan for once again demonstrating the strength of their robust democratic system, which will now undergo another peaceful transition of power”, U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement. “I condemn this”, said one Weibo user.
Tsai’s victory was widely expected. The economic benefits of deeper integration with China never materialized for most ordinary citizens, and many voters, especially younger ones, have grown resistant to China exerting too much control over Taiwan.
The two sides have been governed separately since, though a shared cultural and linguistic heritage mostly endures – with Mandarin spoken as the official language in both places.
At stake are relations with an ascendant and increasingly assertive China under President Xi Jinping.
“I am hoping for change and I believe there will be change”, said one elderly female voter surnamed Chen.
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Speaking on a campaign stop in the central city of Taichung, Tsai said it was everyone’s responsibility to maintain peace across the Taiwan Strait. But both the Nationalists and DPP have rejected the idea.
