Tsai made the remarks when she met with William Burns, a former USA deputy secretary of state, at the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP’s) headquarters.
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China’s Foreign Ministry in a statement Saturday said that the presidential change will not alter the mainland’s sovereignty over Taiwan. The DPP also took control of the Executive Yuan parliament for the first time, taking 68 of the 113 seats compared to the KMT’s 35 seats. But popular resentment is said to be strong that the expansion of Taiwanese firms’ activities in China has led to the hollowing out of the island’s industries and jobs, and that the deeper cross-strait business relations have not benefited Taiwanese people at large while turning the island increasingly dependent on the mainland.
She will make sure there will be no surprises in cross-strait relations, she said, adding that both sides have a responsibility to do their utmost in this regard. “Any forms of suppression will harm the stability of cross-strait relations”, she said. “We expect that the issue surrounding Taiwan will be resolved peacefully by direct dialogue between the concerned parties and that it will contribute to the peace and stability of the region”, he said. He took only 31 percent of votes against Tsai’s 56 percent.
Tsai Ing-wen is the woman of the hour.
In its statement, Beijing’s Taiwan Affairs Office reiterated its insistence on the “one China principle”.
Tzuyu became part of Chinese-Taiwanese worldwide relations earlier this month, when anti-independence singer Huang An denounced the 16-year-old TWICE member for waving a Taiwanese flag on the Korean television program, “My Little Television”.
In the event of Taiwan declaring independence, China, which has hundreds of missiles pointed at Taiwan, might even consider invading Taiwan and that would bring in the United States, which has pledged to defend Taiwan if China attacks it.
Pro-independence forces in Taiwan won a major victory during electoral polling by securing the presidency and the legislature from the Beijing-friendly Kuomintang (KMT) Party.
The Communist Party’s suspicion of Ms Tsai dates back to her days as an adviser to the KMT administration of ex-President Lee Teng-hui, when she helped draft a policy redefining the cross-strait relationship as a “special state-to-state” one, a move seen in Beijing as secessionist.
Tsai said one of her top priorities would be to unite Taiwan in order to gain strength and respect from worldwide society.
In Taiwan, those who had lived on the island before the end of Japanese occupation in 1945, including their descendants, are generally called “native Taiwanese”.
According to Tsai, the election “showed that democratic values were ingrained in Taiwan society”.
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Ni Yongjie, deputy director of the Shanghai Institute of Taiwan Studies, said, “Tsai and the DPP had total success but will also face many challenges”, including reviving the economy.
