Taiwanese Vote in Presidential Election Dominated by China Relations
Voters lined up in an early sign of strong turnout in a presidential election that will chart the future of the island’s relations with China
TAIPEI, TAIWAN - Taiwanese voters re-elected incumbent Tsai Ing-wen on Saturday with a mandate to keep holding off threats from the island’s long-time military rival, China. But after winning the election with more than 57% of the vote, Tsai pledged to look for ways to begin talks with angry officials in Beijing.
Incumbent Tsai Ing-wen, who has stood up to China since first elected in 2016, won in a landslide against an opponent who advocated closer ties with Beijing. Her Democratic Progressive Party also kept its solid majority in parliament Saturday. Those results give Tsai a broad mandate to keep China at bay after a year of military, diplomatic and economic pressure from Beijing.
Supporters of Taiwan's 2020 presidential election candidate, Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen cheer for Tsai's victory in Taipei, Taiwan, Jan. 11, 2020.
The government in Beijing considers Taiwan part of its own territory that must eventually unify with China. But Taiwanese said in surveys last year they prefer today’s democratic self-rule over unification. Anti-China protests in Hong Kong in recent months raised fear among some Taiwanese voters of what life might be like under rule by Beijing. China has ruled Hong Kong for more than 20 years.
Chen Li-chin, a 43-year-old mother from suburban Taipei, decided to vote for incumbent Tsai Ing-wen because the president showed willingness to resist China.
She says what the government should do is protect Taiwan’s democracy and that’s the most important thing. Chen says that in comparing candidates she prefers Tsai Ing-wen. Taiwan’s cooperative relations with China, she adds, can be done state to state as long as China doesn’t take Taiwan to be part of its own country.
Tsai, a 63-year-old U.S.-educated law scholar, advocates dialogue with China only if the Communist leadership in Beijing drops conditions that Taiwan considers itself part of China. She further irritated Beijing last year by rejecting for Taiwan the “one country, two systems” type of rule that China uses now to govern Hong Kong. China has not ruled out use of force, if eventually needed, to capture Taiwan.
But Tsai said at a news conference after declaring victory she would try despite the odds to start talks with China
Tsai says that as president she must handle relations with China according to popular will. She said she would apply the utmost effort to break the stalemate in relations. She urged China to respect the Taiwanese people’s will for equal treatment, which would allow a sustainable and healthy communication mechanism that meets expectations for people’s welfare.
Lin Chong-pin, a retired strategic studies professor from Tamkang University in Taiwan, believes Tsai is already working on ways to start talks.
"I think both sides will do something gradually but they need to do it quietly before it surfaces to the public eye,” said Chong-pin.
Tsai beat Han Kuo-yu of the Nationalist party, also called the KMT. Han is the 62-year-old mayor of Taiwan’s chief port city, Kaohsiung. He said he wanted to start talks with China on trade and investment matters on Beijing’s condition that both sides are two parts of one country.
His policies follow those of former president Ma Ying-jeou. Over Ma’s eight years in office before 2016, China and Taiwan signed more than 20 trade and investment deals while setting aside the political dispute. But by 2014 many Taiwanese feared Ma was getting dangerously cozy with China and staged mass street protests in Taipei.
Taiwanese gave Tsai more than 8 million votes Saturday. They also renewed her party's majority in Parliament. That outcome gives the party's lawmakers control of the foreign affairs budget and a clear channel to pass laws related to the Taiwanese people’s interactions with China.