Taiwan's newly elected president Lai Ching-te stands up to China, declares de facto independence
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs called on Beijing authorities to "face reality and cease its repressive actions against Taiwan," according to a statement issued by Taiwan's foreign ministry.
Taiwanese diplomats emphasized that the president-elect received congratulatory messages from "more than 50 countries, including 12 diplomatic allies." Furthermore, the Ministry condemned the "absurd and misguided comments" made by Chinese authorities.
"We inform the international community that between democracy and authoritarianism, we will stand with democracy," said Lai at a victory rally in Taipei on Saturday evening.
Taiwan Elections
According to the Chinese government, the results of Saturday's presidential and parliamentary elections in Taiwan suggest that the ruling Democratic Progressive Party "does not represent the majority of Taiwanese citizens."
Lai Ching-te emerged victorious in Saturday's election with 40 percent of the vote, defeating Hou Yu-ih of the Nationalist Party (Kuomintang, KMT), and Ko Wen-je of the Taiwan People's Party (TPP), who secured 26 percent and 33 percent of the votes, respectively. Both KMT and TPP, who support maintaining closer relations with communist China, labeled Lai as a "separatist" and an "instigator".
While the Beijing government has never officially ruled Taiwan, it claims the democratically governed island as an "indivisible" part of Chinese territory and as a "rebellious province".
Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Foreign Minister Wang Yi repeatedly warned that, if necessary, the Chinese military is prepared to seize Taiwan by force. They deemed this year's presidential election as a "choice between war and peace".
White House Response
The Taiwan election also drew comments from Joe Biden, who stated that "The United States does not support Taiwan's independence". Tomasz Bortkiewicz, a Chinese foreign policy analyst, believes this statement demonstrates the Americans' "excessive caution" in attempting to avoid provoking Beijing.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken congratulated Lai Ching-te and the "people of Taiwan for their participation in the free and fair elections and for demonstrating their democratic system's strength."
The Bloomberg Agency highlighted that Taiwan is on high alert awaiting China's reaction. However, "security officials in Taipei stated they did not expect Beijing to conduct large-scale military exercises around the island immediately after the elections". There might, however, be an increase in pressure on the president-elect.
The Kuomintang Party, which advocates closer ties with China, won the parliamentary elections with 52 seats. The new president's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) secured 51 seats, and the Taiwan People's Party (TPP) managed to get 8. "Focus Taiwan" pointed out that no party garnered an independent majority, a situation that hasn't occurred since 2004.
