China’s Taiwan office deputy head under investigation

Thousands of posts, apparently from China, have flooded the Facebook page of Taiwan president-elect Tsai Ing-wen, demanding her self-ruled island be brought under Chinese control, though her party brushed it off and said they respected their views. However, it will have less room to manoeuvre on the global front.

Beijing responded to the election rout by warning that it would resolutely oppose any bid by Taiwan to seek independence. Under the truce, both sides have halted the struggle for diplomatic recognition among their allies.

The president-elect is riding high on the anti-KMT sentiment as well as the desire of the younger generation of Taiwanese to forge a new identity, one which is separate and distinct from the increasingly irrelevant notion of Republic of China on Taiwan. Tsai has refused to endorse Beijing’s “one China principle” but hasn’t publicly repudiated it either. Still, the United States has had a decade-long interest in cross-Strait peace and stability, and opposes any initiative by either side to unilaterally change the status quo. The new minister, to be appointed by Tsai, may be able to attend the Assembly if the controversial political relationship between Taipei and Beijing can be shelved in the interim.

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) spokesman Ruan Chao-hsiung said Chinese internet users were just “exercising their freedom of speech”.

China and many global observers had repeatedly warned that a DPP victory could seriously jeopardize the warm and peaceful cross-strait relations that China-friendly KMT had established over the past eight years.

“What’s most important in Taiwan is to recognize that its democracy is its major leverage and major bargaining chip” in its relations with China and the world.

Another challenge will come in mid-September with the 2016 session of the UN General Assembly.

She took note of “very big changes” in politics and the economy amid the wave of globalization.

Economically speaking, little Taiwan has reflected the same dynamic growth capability as their big mainland brothers and sisters. China is Taiwan’s biggest export market, accounting for 25% of products shipped. In fact, Taiwan has no options.

The gulf between Mr. Xi’s Stalinist-style humiliation of critics – the publishing house was preparing a critical biography of him – and Taiwan’s burgeoning liberalism does a lot to explain the victory of Ms. Tsai, whose party advocates Taiwanese independence. In 2013, Taiwan’s Director-General of the Civil Aeronautics Administration received an invitation to attend the ICAO Assembly as the guest of the ICAO Council’s president.

However, since the turn of the century, economic ties between the two have grown extremely strong, with a series of trade agreements and a warming in political tensions (culminating in a landmark meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and outgoing Taiwanese President Ma Ying-Jeou in Singapore last year), leading to a huge rise in bilateral trade.

In an interview with Reuters later, Mr Wu said the DPP would “find a mechanism” to work with Taiwan’s KMT “on some pressing issues” but did not plan to create a shadow Cabinet before Dr Tsai is sworn in on May 20.

He joined the Taiwan Affairs Office, which is in charge of policy toward the island and relations with it, in 2013, having previously spent his entire working career with the Fujian government, according to his official biography.