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Beijing warned Taipei against any ideas about independence while the Kuomintang (KMT) licked its wounds after the DPP won more votes than ever before in Taiwans presidential elections.
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Hong Kong may have been crucial for Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wens victory, but KMT candidate Han Kuo-yu may well have dug his own grave before the protests even started
“We have one consistent line when it comes to Taiwan policy. We support 'peaceful reunification' and 'one country, two systems.' We are strictly opposed to any separatist plot aiming at 'Taiwanese independence.'”
The harsh words were plastered across the front page of Sundays Peoples Daily, the official newspaper of Chinas Communist Party (CCP), without mentioning the impressive, 57,1 percent victory of Tsai Ing-wen over the pro-Beijig Han Kuo-yu, who won just over 38 percent.
The lines also directly attacked Tsais victory speech on Saturday evening where she again flatly rejected Beijings “one country, two systems” policy, instead warning Beijing against “putting pressure and threatening Taiwans sovereignty” while calling for dialogue between equal partners.
Monster victory
With 8,17 million votes against Han Kuo-yus 5,52 million Tsai Ing-wen won more votes than any Taiwanese presidential candidate before.
However, she did not beat the 58,45 percent score gained by her predecessor Ma Ying-chiu (also DPP), who won the elections in 2006 with 7,65 million votes.
The turnout of Saturdays vote was a solid 75 percent of Taiwans more than 19 million voters.
Parliamentary elections which were held in tandem with the presidentials also turned out well for the DPP as they won 61 seats, still an absolute majority in the 113 seat Legislative Yuan, but here they lost 7 seats compared to 2016. The KMT, which had 35 seats, gained three seats, climbing to 38.
Overall, Saturdays elections annulled the significance of the 2018 local election results when Han Kuo-yu, which managed to wipe away most of DPP control on the island, winning 16 out of 22 municipalities and counties, leaving the DPP with only six, where they controlled 13 before.
“Han wave” broken
This “Han wave” that offered solid prospects of a presidential victory for Han Kuo-yu, was driven by a barrage of fantastic economic promises, where he said that he would bring a Disneyland theme park to Taiwan and integrate second city (of which he is mayor) Kaohsiong in the worlds F1 racing circuit to help boost the economy.
He rapidly captivated a growing public that was not deterred by his populist style and sometimes racist and misogenic remarks.
But according to most opinion polls, Hans popularity entered a steep decline in April last year, while Tsais popularity rose.
Most analysts agree that the situation in Hong Kong, and its governments clumsy handling of a controversial extradition bill that lead to increasingly violent protests, was the main reason that Tsais popularity grew, as she took the Hong Kong example as a warning against what all-too-close ties with Beijing could mean for Taiwan.
Private visit
But before protests in Hong Kong had erupted on a city wide scale, Han Kuo-yu had already undermined all chances of ever becoming Taiwans president.
On March 23, in an unprecedented move, he decided to deviate from an official trip to Hong Kong and Macao and, without informing his delegation, paid a private visit to the Liaison Office of the Central Peoples Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (LOCPG), Beijings de-facto “embassy” in Hong KRead More – Source
