She said Taiwan must be a “staunch guardian of peace” with China. The party’s landslide victory in the January polls was seen as a keen expression of concern that the island’s economy is under threat from the mainland’s economic juggernaut.
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“Beijing has warned that delicate relations between the sides would be destabilized unless Tsai explicitly endorses Beijing’s stance that the island and the mainland are part of a single Chinese nation, which it calls the “’92 Consensus”.
Tsai did not mention the “1992 consensus” directly, but her remarks on respecting the historical facts that talks took place between Taiwan and China that year and that both sides agreed to disagree is “close enough”, the scholar in Beijing said.
Her campaign emphasised the island’s unique identity, and in her speech she promised to raise its profile in the worldwide community, an idea that has long met with stiff resistance from Beijing, which has spent vast political and financial capital opposing such efforts, whittling away the number of countries that recognise Taipei diplomatically. The economy is heavily reliant on trade with the mainland, although trade fell in the first quarter of this year by 11.5 per cent. “I believe Dr. Tsai understands that and she will not step on the tripwire and cause trouble”.
Q: How has China responded to Tsai and her inaugural address so far?
“Whatever political changes we go through, China is committed to the One China Policy and opposed to Taiwan independence and “One” Taiwan”, China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said.
“The new government’s duty is to move Taiwan’s democracy forward to the next stage”, Tsai said.
China has multiple ways of registering its dissatisfaction, including cutting exchanges and regular contacts, tightening the island’s diplomat isolation and barring Chinese tourists from visiting the island.
“She is throwing the ball back into Beijing’s court”.
China and Taiwan split in 1949 after the Kuomintang nationalist forces lost a civil war to the Communists.
This is a clear message to Beijing that Taiwanese people cherish these characteristics of their society and their self-rule more than economic ties with China, even if the mainland is the island’s biggest trade partner and export market.
The DPP has traditionally leaned towards independence from China, which sees Taiwan as a breakaway province. In April, a meeting of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s steel committee ejected a Taiwanese delegation after China complained.
Some 700 dignitaries from 59 countries were among the 1,000 attendees at the ceremony in sweltering heat, including 22 from countries that recognise Taiwan and 37 that do not have formal diplomatic ties with Taipei, the Taipei Times reported.
“The two governing parties across the Strait must set aside the baggage of history and engage in positive dialogue for the benefit of the people on both sides”, she went on to say in her inauguration speech.
By taking a hard line, the Chinese government risks further alienating the Taiwanese public, who already feel bullied by China and deprived of their due place in global society.
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Tsai then is tasked with revitalizing a sluggish economy, without any more help from Beijing.
