Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile congratulated new president-elect of Taiwan Ms

A motley group of mainland netizens waged a social media war against their Taiwanese counterparts to denounce the poll victory of Taiwan’s President-elect Tsai Ing-wen, but got lost in “enemy territory” and were finally defeated by their own state censors. That means threats from Beijing and adventurism from Taiwan’s new rulers are equally likely to provoke a popular backlash.

“We will, in a new session of the legislature, put forward the Cross-Strait Agreement Oversight legislation as a priority to highlight our interest in peaceful and stable relations with China”, Joseph Wu, the DPP’s secretary general, said in a speech at a Washington think tank. Beijing needs to keep up its dialogue with Taiwan under Tsai’s leadership and seek to build a new, mutually acceptable foundation for cross-strait relations. “We sincerely urge Your Excellency to consider the issue of Tibet as one of the core issues of new government in Taiwan under your leadership”, he added.

A deputy head of the Chinese Cabinet’s Taiwan Affairs Office has been placed under investigation for apparent corruption amid renewed scrutiny on Beijing’s policies toward the island.

Tsai’s DPP has traditionally leaned in favor of independence for the island from mainland China.

Taiwan’s opposition Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen waving to supporters during a large campaign rally in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Jan. 9.

The island’s 12 million voters ousted the Kuomintang party of President Ma Ying-jeou, who has ruled for the past eight years.

“Gender used to be a barrier for women to overcome if they wanted to be in politics, but today in Taiwan the situation is somewhat different”, she said.

After her landslide win, Tsai pledged to maintain the “status quo” across the Taiwan Straits, but the president-elect has refused to recognise the “1992 consensus” – a tacit understanding between the outgoing KMT and Beijing that has been the bedrock of warming ties since 2008. In September, the Chinese military conducted three days of live-fire exercise in the Taiwan Strait, just after Taiwan held drills simulating a Chinese submarine attack on Kinmen, which is located just off mainland China and was once the site of fierce fighting. Furthermore, even though Ma believed he achieved historic successes by meeting with Chinese Communist leader Xi Jinping and maintaining stability across the Taiwan Strait, voters thoroughly disapproved of his China policy, dubbing it as too dependent on China.

“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. It doesn’t want people on the mainland aspiring for elections of top leaders, and it doesn’t want Taiwan to be recognized as a sovereign country.

Tsai has spent her electoral campaign advocating for the reform of government institutions and judicial systems in order to improve education, economic growth, and communication between the public and the government.