Taiwan turns back on China to elect its first female president
Pro-independence candidate issues warning against ‘suppression’ after securing stunning victory
56pc
TAIWAN rejected closer ties with China yesterday as it elected Tsai Ing-wen, an advocate of independence for the island, as its first female president by a landslide.
Ms Tsai, leader of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, (DPP), claimed a convincing win over her opponent Eric Chu, of the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) party, and immediately warned Beijing that “suppression” would harm relations with Taipei.
“Our democratic system, national identity and international space must be respected. Any forms of suppression will harm the stability of cross-strait relations,” she said in her victory speech.
China, for its part, issued a warning that it would not tolerate Taiwanese independence activities. “On important issues of principle like protecting the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, our will is as hard as rock,” an official statement said.
Mr Chu had earlier announced his defeat and that the party had lost control of Taiwan’s legislature for the first time. The party’s eight years in power have seen warming ties with China but a slowing economy. Rising property prices and stagnating wages have caused concern among voters. The outgoing KMT president, Ma Ying-jeou, met China’s communist leader Xi Jinping in Singapore in November, the first such meeting between the formerly bitter Cold War enemies since a bloody civil war in 1949.
Mr Ma stepped down due to a twoterm maximum limit ahead of an election which Ms Tsai had been heavily tipped to win.
Anti-Chinese sentiment has been rising in Taiwan, particularly among younger people who believe closer links to Beijing only benefit big business. Support for the DPP grew when hundreds of students occupied Taiwan’s parliament for weeks in 2014, the largest display of anti-China sentiment the island had seen in years.
Ms Tsai is only the second leader of the DPP to rule Taiwan. Tensions between the island and the mainland grew during the 2000-08 term of the party’s previous president, Chen Shui-bian.
The Kuomintang, also known as the Nationalists, fled to Taiwan in retreat from Mao Zedong’s Communists at the end of the civil war. China maintains it will eventually reunify the island, by force if necessary, and has hundreds of missiles aimed at Taiwan.
Ms Tsai, who studied in London, has said she is an admirer of Margaret Thatcher. Her party is yet to accept the 1992 Consensus, an understanding between the two countries that there is “One China”, but that both sides have their own definition of what that is.
Beijing has warned it will not deal with any leader who does not recognise the “One China” principle.
However, Ms Tsai has repeatedly said she wants to maintain the “status quo” and many experts believe she will not be seeking to antagonise Beijing.
In her victory speech, she said she would restrain from any “provocation” in her dealings with China, calling on Beijing to do likewise.
J Michael Cole, a Taiwan expert from the University of Nottingham’s China policy institute, said he expected that if relations soured between Taiwan and China, it would be due to actions from Beijing. One of Ms Tsai’s primary aims is to revive Taiwan’s economy, and “unduly
Tsai Ing-wen’s share of the votes, with Eric Chu, her Kuomintang opponent, on 31 per cent
alienating China would defeat that purpose,” he said.
The United States, which has maintained close security links with Taiwan since normalising relations with China in 1978, congratulated Ms Tsai on her victory. Washington had a “profound interest” in maintaining peace and stability between Taiwan and China, the State Department said in a statement.
It was a stunning victory for Ms Tsai, who is expected to be inaugurated in May, while the newly elected legislature will convene next month.
At 10pm yesterday evening, she had more than 56 percent of counted votes, while Mr Chu had 31 percent, with a third-party candidate trailing on 13 percent.
China has largely ignored the polls, although the official in charge of Taiwan affairs had warned of challenges in the relationship in the year ahead.
Mr Cole said the erosion of freedoms in Hong Kong had helped create an increasingly China-sceptic electorate in Taiwan. He also said voters were concerned about a crackdown on opponents by the Communist Party in China.