Taiwan reacts to Tsai Ing-wen’s landslide election victory

When searching for “Tsai Ing-Wen” or “elections in Taiwan” in the Chinese messaging service, a notification appeared stating that results of the query could not be shown due to current laws. But the people trust that she can deliver and have given her a strong mandate. After the official announcement that Tsai was elected, the question becomes whether or not there will new cross- strait relations between China and Taiwan.

Taiwan’s president-elect Tsai Ing-wen has been warned by China not to work toward Taiwanese independence. While they may disagree on nearly every other issue, the Chinese communists and KMT have traditionally agreed on one key point – that Taiwan is an integral part of China.

A win for Tsai would introduce new uncertainty in the complicated relationship between Taiwan and mainland China, which claims the island as its own territory and threatens to use force if it declares formal independence.

Bilateral ties are not expected to take a smooth path. As seen in a recent case involving a Taiwanese girl in a famous K-pop group waving Taiwan’s national flag in an online video clip, such an act can arouse vehement emotions between China and Taiwa and lead to unwanted ramifications for us.

Her quiet pragmatism struck a chord with voters, winning the presidency and helping secure a legislative majority for her Democratic Progressive Party, or DPP, which espouses independence from the mainland. Her economic agenda is focused an industrial policy, aiming to (1) strengthen Taiwan’s global competitiveness through innovation, (2) strengthen domestic industries to support growth momentum and (3) emphasise on onshore economic development.

The Yomiuri Shimbun The people of Taiwan have applied the brakes to rapid rapprochement with China.

Of course it’s not just China and Taiwan that need to deal with the messy question of Taiwan’s status.

In the event of Taiwan declaring independence, China, which has hundreds of missiles pointed at Taiwan, might even consider invading Taiwan and that would bring in the United States, which has pledged to defend Taiwan if China attacks it.

Tsai’s main opponent is Eric Chu of the ruling KMT, which has forged closer ties with China under President Ma Ying-jeou. Dealing with the island’s neighbor and political rival China will be one of her biggest challenges and concerns.

For Huang, victory is a chance to stand up for Taiwan. “We will never compromise”, Huang, 42, said.

Following World War II, the definition of Taiwanese identity divided residents who had lived on the island from the prewar era and postwar immigrants from mainland China who followed the Kuomintang’s relocation in 1949.