During her victory speech, Tsai said she would “work towards maintaining the status quo for peace across the Taiwan Strait” and added that the DPP’s win reflected the Taiwan people’s desire for a “steadfast government that protects Taiwan’s sovereignty”.
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Opposition leader Tsai Ing-wen has been elected Taiwan’s first female president. The DPP announced on April 15 that Tsai will run for president in 2016 in the hope of becoming the island’s first ever woman leader.
The opposition candidate for the China-friendly Nationalist Party, Eric Chu, conceded a massive loss.
Beijing has threatened to use military force against the island if its leaders declare formal independence – a move that may also worsen ties between China and the US, which is obligated under the Taiwan Relations Act to come to the aid of the island. “Both sides have a responsibility to do their utmost to find mutually acceptable ways to interact with respect and reciprocity and ensure no provocation and no surprises”, Tsai said.
She thanked the USA and Japan for their support and vowed Taiwan would contribute to peace and stability in the region.
“So why should it blow up?”, Shelley Rigger, a professor of East Asian politics at Davidson College in North Carolina, told the NY times, adding that even if Tsai is elected, relations with China would remain stable.
She returned to Taiwan around the mid-1980s to spend the next decade and a half negotiating for the island’s entry into the World Trade Organisation – a role that pitted her brains against worldwide experts as Taiwan, recognised as a country by only a handful of others, fought for its diplomatic life.
The party had been in power for most of the past 70 years and had overseen improved relations with Beijing.
Tsai acted gingerly because she knows that advocating “Taiwan independence” would be a campaign disaster. It once again demonstrates Taiwan’s strong democratic process, which the Philippines shares.
Speaking at her victory rally outside DPP headquarters in Taipei, Tsai said to the jubilant crowd, “the democratic victory is ours, but the road to reform will be long and hard”.
Analysts also agree there will not be any immediate backlash from China, as alienating Taiwan would play against Beijing’s ultimate aim of reunification.
China has held out the “one country, two systems” formula, under which the British colony of Hong Kong returned to China in 1997, as a solution for Taiwan. She will want stability, he said. Many voters said they been turned off the KMT because of its infighting and President Ma’s pro-China economic policies. “I sure will go voting today”, said one post on Taiwan’s Apple Daily newspaper website.
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Tzuyu of the multinational K-pop girl group TWICE and her agency chief have apologized for her waving of a Taiwanese flag that sparked controversy during the sensitive time of Taiwan’s presidential elections.
