China lauds voters after DPP defeat

TAIPEI: China welcomed the defeat of Taiwan’s pro-independence ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) at local elections yesterday saying it showed people wanted peaceful relations with Beijing.

“The (election) results reflected the strong will of the Taiwan public in hoping to continue to share the benefits of the peaceful development of relations across the Taiwan Strait, and their strong wish in hoping to improve the island’s economy and people’s well-being,” said a statement by China’s policy-making Taiwan Affairs Office and carried by state media.

Electors were also asked to vote in a series of referendums, including on whether the island should join the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as Taiwan, rather than “Chinese Taipei” —the name agreed under a compromise signed in 1981.

Not enough votes were cast to make the results valid, and in any case more people voted against a name change than for one.

China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, responding to that vote, said that it showed “putting Taiwanese athletes’ interests at stake is against people’s will”. “The attempts of ‘Taiwan independence’ are doomed to fail,” it added.

A vote to compete under a Taiwan banner would have riled Beijing, which has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control.