Taiwan’s Tsai wins second term in blow to Beijing

Bloomberg

President Tsai Ing-wen won a landslide victory over China-friendly opposition challenger Han Kuo-yu to clinch a second term in Taiwan’s presidential election, dealing a blow to Beijing, which has long sought to bring the democratically run island under its control.
Han conceded defeat just before 9 pm at his headquarters in the southern city of Kaohsiung. Tsai had a record 7.7 million votes, Taiwan’s Central Election Commission said around 8:30 pm. Han had 5.2 million.
The president, whose Democratic Progressive Party advocates formal independence from China, has vowed that Taiwan will never be unified with China as long she is in power. Meanwhile Han, of the Kuomintang party, had struggled to find a consistent message on China after a meteoric rise that saw him become mayor of Kaohsiung — Taiwan’s third-largest city — and a top contender to unseat Tsai.
Votes for Tsai surpassed the 6.9 million she reaped in 2016. Crowds of her supporters gathered for an evening victory celebration at her campaign’s headquarters in downtown Taipei after hundreds of thousands rallied in city centre the night before the vote. It was a stark contrast to the scene at Han’s headquarters further south in Kaohsiung, where staffers cried as it became apparent Tsai was likely to win.
She was bolstered by a resilient economy and stock market and protests against China’s grip in neighbouring Hong Kong, which have confronted Taiwanese voters with the potential perils of closer ties with the mainland. As she cast her ballot on Saturday, Tsai said she hoped “every citizen can vote to make democracy in Taiwan stronger.”
“I voted for Tsai Ing-wen because I don’t want to lose Taiwan’s freedom,” Rita Huang, a 34-year-old public servant, said after voting in Taipei.
Voters in the world’s only Chinese-speaking democracy faced pressure to pick sides in a global power struggle between the US and China. Issues such as wages, housing and air quality were important to voters, but the self-ruled island’s complex relationship with China is the main political fissure in Taiwanese society.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has reaffirmed his desire to use the same “one country, two systems” framework by which Beijing governs Hong Kong to bring the democracy of 23 million people back under its control.
Tsai rejects the prospect, and her victory on Saturday likely means four more years of no talks between the two sides on one of the region’s main potential flash points, a disappointment for those who had cast their votes for Han.
“I support closer and more peaceful ties with China and am against independence for Taiwan,” Betty Chang, a 60-year-old accountant, said.