Tsai, is the first female president but also only the second president not to belong to the Kuomintang, or the Nationalist Party, which ruled Taiwan until the early 1980s. The official announcement has yet been made, however the surveys that were taken after the voting polls closed told the story. “We have our own democracy systems, we will not be influenced by China”, said Tsai Cheng-an, a 55-year-old Taipei professor. Tsai’s victory and her DPP’s sweep of a majority in the Legislative Yuan, the first since the legislature’s seats were opened for direct elections in 1992, may signal Taiwanese voters’ repudiation of Ma’s China-friendly policies. I don’t think the president being male or female makes a difference.
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DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (front left) and her running mate Chen Chien-jen celebrate victory in the 2016 ROC presidential election January 16 in Taipei City. It will be interesting to see how she addresses such matters and delegates her wishes for her people.
Should Tsai continue to refuse to endorse the 1992 consensus, China is likely to apply pressure by restricting cross-strait economic exchanges, thus rocking the new administration.
The United States on Saturday congratulated Tsai and said it holds “profound interest” in maintaining stability between China and Taiwan. After the official announcement that Tsai was elected, the question becomes whether or not there will new cross- strait relations between China and Taiwan.
Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson and presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen won 56 per cent of the vote. The mainland is Taiwan’s largest trading partner, buying 40 per cent of its exports, even as the two remain military rivals. Hong asked the US to firmly abide by the one-China policy and the principles in the three Sino-US joint communiques, and live up to its commitment to opposing “Taiwan independence”.
China also wasted no time in deploying its army of internet censors.
China’s Foreign Ministry, in its reaction to her victory, said Taiwan was an internal matter for China, there is only one China in the world and the island’s election neither changes this reality nor global acceptance of it. China has been aiming hundreds of missiles at Taiwan since members of Chinese nationalists fled the mainland and Communists came to power during China’s civil war, according to Reuters.
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However, many analysts say her rhetoric has hardened somewhat in the aftermath of her success, when she said that “any types of quelling will damage the stability of cross-strait relationships”.
