Taiwan party official says transparent China relations a priority

There have been concerns that relations across the Taiwan Strait would deteriorate under Tsai’s administration, since the DPP is known for its pro-Taiwan independence stance. “Each side is waiting for the other to throw the first stone”, says Su Tzen-ping, head of New Talk, an independent news website.

His party emerged from 2014’s ‘Sunflower Movement, ‘ when scores of student protesters stormed and occupied Taiwan’s Legislature and Cabinet building to object to a trade pact that symbolized Taiwan’s deepening relations with mainland China.

President Xi Jinping is believed to be deeply unsatisfied with the office’s failure to obtain results in Beijing’s quest to win over Taiwanese to China’s goal of political unification.

“There’s a tendency to think that Xi will have to find someone responsible (for the election result) in the Taiwan Affairs Office”. 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.

The Taiwan dollar firmed T$0.214 to T$33.588 per US dollar, after the local dollar closed at its weakest level in almost seven years. That interpretation fits with Tsai’s repeated assertions that she will maintain the “status quo” of cross-strait relations, rather than seeking to overturn Ma’s policies. Five legislative seats were also won by the youthful New Power Party, with heavy metal rock star Freddy Lim and human rights lawyer Huang Guo-chang both defeating veteran KMT legislators.

“This is a victory of the people of Taiwan, who voted for Democratic Progressive Party under your dynamic leadership and it is an inspiration to all the democratic societies throughout the world”.

Although shipping, air traffic, and increased trade are bringing China and Taiwan closer together, the increasing solidity of Taiwan’s democratic lifestyle makes their eventual submission to the Communist Mainland oligarchy practically impossible.

“It looks as if China would demand Tsai come out and endorse the ’92 consensus, but there is room for negotiation”, said Huang Jing, a China expert at Singapore National University’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.

“Our democratic way of life is forever the resolve of Taiwan’s 23 million people”, she said. Nevertheless, polls indicate that 56 percent of Taiwanese citizens are dissatisfied with the current state of cross-strait relations. The past eight years had been marked by calm between China and Taiwan, after the election of the China-friendly Ma Ying-jeou as president in 2008, and his subsequent re-election.

The video even garnered a mention from Tsai in her victory speech, saying it “has shaken Taiwanese society”.

Richard Bush, director of the Center for East Asia Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution, said Beijing might need to modify its approach to the DPP, given the size of the party’s victory. “Taiwanese should be very proud”.