UUnited Kingdom

Taiwan election: China relations tested after ‘triumph for democracy’

  • January 13, 2024



Taiwan election: China relations tested after ‘triumph for democracy’

This is not the man that China wanted to see elected president of Taiwan in an election they framed as a choice between War and Peace Taiwan voted for defiance we are telling the International Community that between democracy and authoritarianism we will stand on the side of democracy this is

The historic third victory of Taiwan Democratic Progressive Party who cets closer relations with the US and desire full Independence from China when Beijing had warned those heading to The Ballot Box to vote carefully this is not what they wanted I’m very calm because Taiwan has been a democratic place for many years

It is a diverse society that respects different voices I’m more nervous in this election because it is a choice between whether we want to be closer to China or to the us at the end it’s a democratic decision of the people Taiwan has only had full election since the year 2000 a democracy

In gen Z with all giddiness of Youth Taiwanese elections are really exciting they’re noisy there’s a lot of public campaigning on the streets and there’s a lot of public participation my parents both grew up under martial law and to go vote with them today the three of us um and to be

Able to cast our votes um in a democratic Taiwan is something that I think is incredibly moving this is what taiwan’s voters fear losing if China completes its unfinished Civil War when Ma Rose to power the Nationalist Chinese government fled to Taiwan and ever since has been looking over its shoulder today

Taiwan is increasingly more culturally distinct from mainland China and was the first country in Asia to legalize gay marriage yet Beijing has promised to unify Taiwan with mainland China does this election now increase the likelihood of conflict with China it always feels like there’s a lot on the

Line and that’s because of taiwan’s unique and precarious situation in the International System where it operates like a de facto independent country um but it receives very little formal diplomatic support however Taiwan alone cannot resolve its geopolitical dilemas because this is a dilemma that’s been created by um Chinese claims over Taiwan

Chinese ideology um towards Taiwan Taiwan has been a thought line between the US and China the US have been an ally of Taiwan but President Biden has avoided support for Independence as conflict would have major regional and intern consequences Taiwan produces the majority of the silicone chips essential

To new computers and the global economy it is taiwan’s economy that has been a silent backdrop behind the election the price of staple Goods has risen and wages have declined taiwan’s cost of living has cost the DPP votes the party may have won the presidency but it has now lost control of

Parliament I’m somewhat concerned concerned about the fact that none of the three parties have achieved a majority in Parliament but I think this is another Choice made by the Taiwanese people taiwan’s new president is facing constraints and Under Pressure to be cautious last year China increased its military drills in taiwan’s territory

And the election of a man they have called a separatist is unlikely to improve relations and with no dialogue with taiwan’s governing party since 2016 the question is what’s next for China’s 74e standoff with the island it considers a Chinese region in Rebellion well a little earlier I spoke

To Yan Sun director of the China program at the Washington DC International Think Tank the Stimson Center I began by asking her what she thought of William Li’s victory speech the whole well the whole focus on Taiwan a lot is about the uh the relationship with China and whether

Taiwan is justifiably having a rightful place in the in the world on the world stage uh in terms of the Democracy I think the ruling party as well as the opposition political parties have been emphasizing that this is the exercise of the view of the will of the Taiwanese

People it’s not up for China to to decide the Island’s future it’s not up to the United States to decide the Island’s future it’s about the 23 million voters in Taiwan and where they want the island to go but this is going to be a result that isn’t going to go

Down well in Beijing isn’t it it’s going to be not necessarily beijing’s preferred candidate is it oh he’s definitely not beijing’s preferred candidate and we knew that from a long time ago that he is already presumed the guilty in beijing’s view because the Chinese believe no matter

What he says uh he is going to be pursuing a platform for Taiwan Independence regardless so uh that is true so he is not beijing’s preferred candidate but they also saying that China has been preparing for this result since much earlier on since at least throughout the year of

2023 uh I did not come across any Chinese policy experts or interlocutor who believed that that kmt had a good chance to win this election will Beijing be seeing right now as a really good time do you think to kind of up military action because the world’s attention is

Just so diverted in different areas at the moment uh I think it depends on what those M actions will be uh would be targeting that if it’s targeting an invasion of Taiwan no I don’t think that is China’s priority at this time but if this targeting deterring um the DPP candidate or not

The DPP President elect deterring him from making statements were crossing the r red lines in China’s view I think that is very likely he won four % of the vote but that’s kind of 60% of the electorate who don’t necessarily uh want him in power don’t necessarily see his

Viewpoint does that mean that he’ll have to be more moderate in how he goes ahead and how he governs Taiwan uh I think that is very likely because you’re right we are looking at 60% of the voters did not vote for him um and in fact if the two opposition

Parties could have established a coalition they could have won this election so DPP certainly faces a lot of head wi in terms of the domestic disapproval and the unpopularity of their policy especially domestic policies in the past uh in the past eight years but those will be primarily

Domestic issues on the issue of Crossroad relations I think people are generally pleased with the status quo so if he is King on maintaining the status quo I think he will be having the support of the tanese people yansen thank you very much indeed for your time

Thank you thank you for having me

He may have been described by the Chinese as a ‘troublemaker’, but former physician William Lai has won a decisive victory in Taiwan’s presidential election. (Subscribe: https://bit.ly/C4_News_Subscribe)

The island’s fraught relationship with its powerful neighbour dominated the poll and he is expected to continue to forge closer military and diplomatic ties with Japan and the West.

———————–
Follow us:
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/Channel4News/
Twitter – https://twitter.com/Channel4News
TikTok – https://www.tiktok.com/@c4news
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/channel4news/

39 comments

  3. Democratic Progressive, must have an entirely different meaning in Taiwan than it does in America. Because the Democratic Progressive politicians in America are wanting to be ruled by China especially Gavin Newsom.

  4. There is no "One China" There is commie China and Democratic Taiwan better known as Republic of China. Commie Chinese can cry a yellow river about it…. ..glad the Taiwanese are continuously showing the world how not all Chinese are a lost cause…..❤

    Greetings from Finland, you're on the right path, keep to it…..

  5. I find it hard to believe that the people of Taiwan legitimately voted to side with the U.S., knowing that will bring about the same fate that we've just seen in the Ukraine. I'd bet a year's salary this was rigged. Not good news for the people of Taiwan… should probably start making travel plans.

  6. Congratulations. Taiwan DPP loses legislative majority, supports plummeted from 57.2% to 40.5%. The USA puppet so-called President Lai managed to get 29% of all the registered votes only. Not even 1/3. Almost 60% Taiwanese show their finger to USA and its allies. Well done Taiwanese You’ve slapped those Anti China real hard. Now they are trying to twist the facts just to make them feel great. Proud of you Taiwanese

  9. War and economics experts suggest that there is mistakes in the reporting of this news??????. .
    1. How can you call dpp win in this elections??.. dont be silly.stupid foolish???… wake up??. Dont be not smart peoples anymore??
    Dpp did no win at all ?. It is bull shitting??.
    To really win an election the winner needs to has over 51 percent of the voters votes to be safely can a real winner??…
    We all ansian don't be silly.stupid and foolish anymore??… if you follow failures and bankruptcies usa??.. and usa overprinted its usa dollars notes to few hundreds trillions dollars debts now???… and the cost to mass print each piece of 100dollars face value dollars is actually cost only 0.002cents a piece to mass print each piece of 100dollars usa notes??…
    So if to overprinted usa dollars 1trillion dollars 💸? It only costs 200 million dollars only??…
    So why usa dare to print hundreds of trillions dollars debts?… but not dare to assure and guarantee its overprinted for trustworthy? Like we all can very easily exchange for 1ozs of pure solid gold for how much usa dollars anymore now?? ….WHY ? Why not dare??..to guarantee??… WHY??..
    So usa not dare to guarantee it's dollars trustworthy???… now all nations decided not to trade in unguarantee usa overprinted dollars anymore??..
    .and all nations will not accept usa dollars into their banks anymore ???..
    So all nations will request usa to pay with solid pure golds ??.. not usa unguarantee dollars anymore???…
    So we ask dpp to be brave to accept dpp losses??.. and not pretend that dpp wins anymore??.. dpp must not cheat them self??.. by cheating dpp themself??… mades all smart taiwanese people look down on dpp 😮even more??.. in taiwanese it is call …soo boo kee…?
    Dpp is really soo boo kee ?? Better dont play politics anymore???…
    Why taiwanese ditch dpp??
    Reason is dpp is so useless not dare to say NO to usa??? And let tsmc bully by usa??.. until usa arrogant threatened to bomb 💣 tsmc ??? So helpless a very coward dpp?? Maybe usa also threatened dpp to bomb taiwan???… that is why dpp so scare and cowardly anyhow follow usa and be slave of usa??…..
    So we ask dpp to wake up??. Dont afraid of evil usa anymore??.dpp not is like ukriane ?. So losses and so confusing?? And so afraid now???…
    We ask dpp not to be arrogant??.. and ignorance of facts of law?? and consequences of back fires??..and hurting dpp itselfs anymore???..
    We all see for ourselves how usa has to suffering now???………

  10. War and economics experts believes that mighty china has many secret doomsday plan for usa???
    So we believes that usa will not survive till 2024
    ..? ?

  23. On behalf of all Somaliland people, we are sending our heartiest congratulations to the newly elected President of Taiwan and we are looking forward to seeing our good bilateral relations continue to its highest expectations. Good luck President.

  24. Taiwan was other country. Chinese immigrants when there was civil war between communist and Democratic Party. Taiwanese are not Chinese. China must leave them alone and stop bullying.

  25. They are just way too close to China, there is no way China doesn't look at this as them reverting back to Three Kingdoms times but with Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China so I empathize with them. I think it's cool that Taiwan wanna do their own thing, but I don't like how they gotta suck on America's knob to do so. I'd be paranoid too if an island that close to me was that buddy buddy with the US.

  26. Big congratulations to the New Taiwanese elected President,,,, and big congratulations to the Taiwanese populace for choosing again their Democracy rather than Pro- Communism Political Ideology of the CCP Covid-19 leaders,,,,,

  29. Not much news. I suppose if you’ve just heard of Taiwan it might be useful. It’s clear that ordinary people know very little about Taiwan and don’t care. China will realize this is to their advantage.

  34. Taiwan Legislative Yuan, DPP got 51 seats, KMT got 52 seat, TPP got 8 seats, Independent got 2 seats.
    That means DPP got just 40% , The others KMT, TPP and Independent together got 60%.
    Taiwan Voters, people begin to see the danger in giving DPP the majority. They begin to realize Taiwan dangers will be abandon, like Ukraine as US proxy. US and Western countries are moving away from Ukraine to support Israel and their intentions to expand the Middle East wars, trying to pull Iran into the Yemen Houthi strikes against Israel.

  37. People of the world celebrates the success of election of democratic Taiwan. Let democratic prevails and let your your identity soar as an independent spirit and independent country.

Leave a Reply