Taiwanese stocks are bucking the weaker trend across Asian markets this morning after Tsai Ing-wen was elected as the first female president of the self governing island over the weekend.
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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 Canadian Trade Office in Taipei (CTOC) stated Canada hopes that relations between Taiwan and China will continue to be “constructive and that cross-strait peace and stability is maintained, with peaceful dialogue continuing among the respective parties on both sides of the Taiwan Strait”.
The New Power Party, newly established by leaders of the Sunflower Movement, won five legislative seats.
Tsai, Taiwan’s first female president-elect, thanked her people in her victory speech during the press conference on Saturday: Through the democratic elections, “we have yet again shown the world the pride of being a democratic country and how proud we are as Taiwanese”, she said. “This is the choice of Taiwan’s people”. By Saturday night, Tsai had more than 56 percent of votes counted and Chu had 31 percent, with a third-party candidate trailing in the distance.
After taking back government reign from the DPP eight years ago, Ma actively promoted closer economic ties with China.
Tsai lng-wen has a struggle cut out for her as she has to deal with the uphill battle of Taiwan’s democratic stance versus China’s strict one party state and mind frame. The KMT’s Ma followed Chen, and improved relations with the People’s Republic to the point where direct flights between cities in Taiwan and the Chinese mainland were resumed for the first time since 1949, along with the large-scale opening of Taiwan to tourism from other parts of China.
China’s foreign ministry reaffirmed the mainland’s vision of territorial integrity Monday.
At the present moment, no one can credibly predict how the relations between Taiwan and China will develop. China’s administration under President Xi Jinping, which aims to eventually realize the unification of China and Taiwan, has indirectly warned that unless Tsai recognizes the 1992 consensus, there will be no “status quo”.
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Following her victory, Tsai said the backlash Chou faced had “shaken Taiwanese society”, and added it will “serve as a constant reminder… about the importance of our country’s strength and unity to those outside our borders”. The inauguration ceremony of Tsai will be held on May 20 2016, after which there will another four years for DPP to achieve their promised goals.
