Tsai Ing-wen becomes Taiwan president as KMT concedes defeat

(AP Photo/Wally Santana). A Taiwanese man exits a voting booth with his ballots in the presidential election at a local polling station in Taipei, Taiwan, Saturday, Jan. 16, 2016.

As Tsai’s numbers grew, and as the gap between her and KMT presidential candidate Eric Chu (朱立倫) widened, the crowd stood up to cheer and wave their flags.

Parliamentary polls were also held, and if the DPP wins those too, Tsai will get an even stronger mandate.

The United States has expressed concerns about the danger of worsening China-Taiwan ties, at a time when China’s navy is increasingly flexing its muscles in the South China and East China Seas and expanding territorial claims.

“Both sides have a responsibility to do their utmost to find mutually acceptable ways to interact with respect and reciprocity and ensure no provocation and no surprises”, Tsai added, having taken more than half the vote.

Current KMT president Ma has overseen a dramatic rapprochement with China since coming to power in 2008. Illustrating the extent of their defeat, the Nationalists had won 64 seats four years ago.

A crestfallen Chu conceded defeat at 7pm.

“We must ensure that no provocations or accidents take place”, Ms Tsai said, warning that “any forms of suppression will harm the stability of cross-strait relations”.

“Democracy is a core part of Taiwan’s political identity now”, he said.

If Tsai wins, she would become the territory’s first female leader.

The outgoing Nationalist party has promoted closer ties to China, Elise says, by pushing trade deals and the lifting of travel bans – while pointedly not advocating for reunification.

The election comes at a tricky time for Taiwan’s export-dependent economy, which entered recession in the third quarter previous year.

“Economic progress is related closely to our leadership, like land reform and housing prices. Do you really think that younger people can afford to buy a home?” “Our lives have been gloomy for the past eight years”.

After her studies she returned to Taipei to teach but in the 1990s was drafted into a political career, acting as a negotiator for Taiwan’s accession to the World Trade Organisation and becoming a senior government adviser on mainland issues, serving on the National Security Council in 1999 to 2000.

The result can also be seen as a referendum on Taiwan’s relationship with its cross-strait neighbor China, which was strengthened significantly by the President Ma Ying-jeou.

The U.S. State Department congratualated Tsai Ing-wen on her victory, cautioning against anti-mainland sentiments.

Earlier in her speech, Tsai pledged to “work towards maintaining peace and stability” in China relations, but emphasised it must reflect public will. Mainland China has never really given up its image of the DPP as a pro-independence party, despite Tsai’s repeated promises that she will maintain the “status quo” in cross-strait relations.

“I voted for the DPP because I am very afraid Taiwan will become just like Hong Kong”, said 29 year-old Alice Huang. “The change of president would mean still letting Taiwanese make the decision”.

Beijing still claims Taiwan as a “renegade province” to be reclaimed by force if necessary – a relic of China’s civil war and the flight across the strait in 1949 by the defeated Nationalist forces of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek.