(TibetanReview.net, Jan14’24) – China’s campaign of warplanes, naval ships, balloons and fearsome rhetoric to intimidate voters have left Beijing red-face after Taiwan still elected Mr Lai Ching-te as president in elections held on Jan 13. China had called him a troublemaker and pitched the election as a choice between war and peace, given the position adopted by Lai and his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) on Taiwan’s sovereignty. The only consolation for China is that the DPP lost its parliamentary.
In the days leading up to the vote, China demanded voters reject Lai’s “evil path” and make the “right choice”, while raising the spectre of war if the DPP retained power, noted the AFP Jan 14.
The nationalist Kuomintang (KMT) party-run Republic of China-government fled to Taiwan after it lost to the communists in the civil war which ended in 1949 to continue its rule from there. However, the communist Party of China-state regards the island as a renegade province that must eventually be reunified, by force if necessary. Taiwan eventually turned democratic under President Lee Teng-hui, resulting in the emergence of the DPP.
The KMT is conciliatory towards China, though not favouring reunification, especially under the present circumstances. However, the DPP’s Lai has called Taiwan an already sovereign nation, for which China loathes him to no end.
The only consolation for China is that Lai won just over 40% of the votes, while the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party candidate Hou Yu-ih garnered 33.49%, with Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) candidate Ko Wen-je receiving 26.45%. The TPP also favour between relations with the mainland. More than 14 million people took part in the elections, meaning that voter turnout came in at just over 71%.
Also, the DPP lost its parliamentary majority. In the island’s 113-seat legislature, the KMT won 52 seats, the DPP 51, and the TPP eight. The rest two went to independent candidates, a fact reported by China’s official chinadaily.com.cn Jan 14.
Based on these results, Chen Binhua, a spokesperson for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office has said the results reveal that the DPP cannot represent the mainstream public opinion on the island.
“The elections will not change the basic landscape and development trend of cross-Strait relations, will not alter the shared aspiration of compatriots across the Taiwan Strait to forge closer ties, and will not impede the inevitable trend of China’s reunification,” Chen has said in another chinadaily.com.cn Jan 14.
“Our stance on resolving the Taiwan question and realizing national reunification remains consistent, and our determination is as firm as rock,” Chen has added.
He has also said the mainland will work with relevant political parties, groups and people from various sectors in Taiwan to boost cross-Strait exchanges and cooperation, enhance cross-Strait integrated development, jointly promote Chinese culture, and advance the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations as well as the cause of national reunification.
Nevertheless, China’s campaign of intimidation, which has become widely regarded as one of President Xi Jinping’s signature policies, is likely to grow, said the AFP report, citing analysts.
“We can expect Beijing to ratchet up tension and coercion against Taipei,” Lyle Morris, a senior fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute, has said.
“The era of two political parties on both sides of the strait… hashing out some kind of political consensus on unification is slipping away and Beijing knows it.”