Taiwanese voters swept the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) leadership candidate, Lai Ching-te, into power yesterday, strongly rejecting Chinese pressure to spurn him, as China said it would not give up on achieving “reunification”.
Lai’s party, which champions Taiwan’s separate identity and rejects China’s territorial claims, was seeking a third successive four-year term, unprecedented under Taiwan’s current electoral system.
However, in a measure of public frustration at domestic issues like the high cost of housing and stagnating wages after eight years in power, the DPP lost its majority in parliament, making Lai’s job harder in passing legislation.
Lai also only won 40% of the vote in Taiwan’s first-past-the-post system, unlike current leader Tsai Ing-wen, who was re-elected by a landslide four years ago with more than 50% of the vote.
The turnout was around 72% of the nearly 19 million eligible voters in the island of 23 million.
Tsai was constitutionally barred from standing again after two terms in office.
Lai said he would maintain the status quo in relations across the Taiwan Strait but that he was “determined to safeguard Taiwan from threats and intimidation from China.”
At the same time, he emphasized the need for cooperation and dialogue with Beijing on an equal basis to “replace confrontation,” though he didn’t give specifics.
In the run-up to the election, China denounced Lai as a dangerous separatist and called on the people of Taiwan to make the right choice while noting the “extreme harm of the DPP’s ‘Taiwan independence’ line.” They have also repeatedly rebuffed Lai’s calls for talks.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office struck a gentler tone in its response to Lai’s election and did not mention him by name, saying that the results reveal that the DPP “cannot represent the mainstream public opinion” on Taiwan.
Taiwan’s election took place at a time of growing geopolitical tensions between Beijing and Washington.
The arms race across the Taiwan Strait and Chinese military pressure on the island Beijing claims as its “sacred” territory is unlikely to end.
Since the last election in 2020, China has engaged in an unprecedented level of military activity in the Taiwan Strait, including holding two rounds of major war games near the island.
