China state media warn Taiwan president-elect against ‘hypocrisy’

Following the announcement of election results on Saturday, the leader of Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Tsai Ing-Wen, said her victory was a further example of Taiwan’s ingrained democracy and its people’s wish for a government that is “steadfast in protecting this nation’s sovereignty”.

Tsai Ing-wen is from the Democratic Progressive Party, or the former opposition party, and that naturally brings up questions about Taiwan’s relationship with China moving forward.

She risks antagonising China if she attempts to forcefully assert Taiwan’s sovereignty and reverses eight years of warming China ties under incumbent President Ma Ying-jeou of the Nationalists.

Student leaders of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy Umbrella Movement said Sunday they would seek closer ties with Taiwan after the island elected a new president who pledged to stand up to China.

Taiwan’s ruling Nationalist Kuomintang Party (KMT) presidential candidate Eric Chu concedes defeat, appearing before supporters in Taipei.

Tsai officially takes up her new position on May 20.

As Taiwan has increasingly become economically dependent on China, concern over possible deterioration in relations between Taiwan and China has spread among business and other circles.

The passage of a supervisory bill on cross-Strait exchanges, initiated in 2014 after large protests over a stalled trade pact with China, would be a legislative priority when the new parliamentary session begins in February, Tsai was quoted as saying in an interview with a Taiwanese magazine on Monday.

“I also want to emphasise that both sides of the Taiwanese Strait have a responsibility to find mutually acceptable means of interaction that are based on dignity and reciprocity”.

“The Taiwan question falls in China’s internal affairs”.

According to Tsai, the election “showed that democratic values were ingrained in Taiwan society”. Chinese government-controlled media warned DPP leader Tsai Ing-wen not to start another round of instability with Beijing, which claims self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory. Legally, a president can hold the office for two four-year terms. In her victory speech, Tsai said the election results proved the strength of Taiwan’s democracy.

Taiwan and China split in 1949 after a civil war. Sino-U.S. friction, a destabilizer for the Korean Peninsula, could add to instability in Northeast Asia, as the cross-strait relations are closely linked to inter-Korean matters.