Taiwan: President-elect promises to protect the island from “threats” from China

Lai Ching-te promised on Saturday to “protect Taiwan from threats and intimidation from China” after his election as president of the island, with Beijing reaffirming for its part that “reunification” was “inevitable”. “We are determined to protect Taiwan from China’s continued threats and intimidation,” declared the elected representative of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in front of his jubilant supporters waving red and green flags. He congratulated the population for having “successfully resisted the efforts of external forces to influence this election.”

“Serious danger”

At the end of a campaign marked by strong diplomatic and military pressure from China, Lai Ching-te won this one-round presidential election with 40.1% of the votes, according to results covering 99.9% of polling stations. vote. He will take office on May 20. Outgoing vice-president, Lai Ching-te, 64, has been described by Beijing as a “serious danger” because his party claims that the island is de facto independent. The communist country, which considers Taiwan as one of its provinces, reacted on Saturday evening by affirming that this vote “will not hinder the inevitable trend of reunification with China”.

“We (…) will firmly oppose separatist activities aimed at Taiwan’s independence as well as foreign interference,” warned Chen Binhua, a spokesperson for the Chinese office responsible for relations with Taiwan. During the campaign, China called on voters to make “the right choice” and its army promised to “crush” any desire for “independence”.

“I want to thank the Taiwanese people for writing a new chapter in our democracy,” declared the elected official in his victory speech, because “we are telling the international community that between democracy and authoritarianism, we will be side of democracy. “We are convinced that only the Taiwanese people have the right to choose their own president,” he added, promising however to “continue exchanges and cooperation with China”.

US congratulates Lai Ching-te but does not support Taiwan independence

The United States congratulated Lai Ching-te on Saturday for his victory in the presidential election in Taiwan, while reiterating that it does not support the independence of the autonomous island, claimed by China. “We do not support independence,” US President Joe Biden told reporters as he left the White House. The head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken congratulated Lai Ching-te on his victory, as well as “the Taiwanese people for having once again demonstrated the strength of their solid democratic system and electoral process”.

The United States does not recognize Taiwan as a state and considers the People’s Republic of China as the sole legitimate government, but nevertheless provides the island with significant military aid. Washington plans to send an “informal delegation” to the island after the vote. “The United States is committed to maintaining peace and stability across the (Taiwan) Strait and the peaceful resolution of differences, free from pressure and coercion,” the US Secretary of State said in a statement.

Antony Blinken also said he looked forward to working in the future with Lai Ching-te “to advance our shared interests and values, and continue our long-standing unofficial relationship, in a manner consistent” with the official position of the United States. United. “The partnership between the American and Taiwanese people, rooted in democratic values, continues to broaden and deepen through economic, cultural, and people-to-people ties,” he said. The president of Paraguay, one of the few countries in the world to recognize Taiwan, congratulated Lai Ching-te in a video call: Santiago Peña said he was “happy to see Taiwan once again prove its values ​​through democratic elections” , according to a press release from the DPP.

Model of democracy

His main opponent Hou Yu-ih, 66, a Kuomintang (KMT) candidate who advocated rapprochement with Beijing, obtained 33.5% of the votes, according to the Central Electoral Commission’s count. At the start of the evening, he admitted his defeat to his supporters: “I respect the final decision of the Taiwanese people” and “I congratulate Lai Ching-te and Hsiao Bi-khim (his running mate, editor’s note) on their election, hoping that they will not disappoint the expectations of the Taiwanese people.” The third candidate, Ko Wen-je, 64, from the small Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) and who presents himself as anti-establishment, is third with 26.5%. He also conceded defeat.

The Taiwanese also voted to renew the 113 seats in Parliament, where the DPP however lost its majority, according to Lai Ching-te. In the approximately 18,000 polling stations, each ballot was held up and read aloud by those responsible for counting – a process open to the public – before being counted. The territory of 23 million inhabitants located 180 kilometers from the Chinese coast is hailed as a model of democracy in Asia. The European Union for its part “welcomed” on Saturday the holding of elections in Taiwan and “congratulated”, in a press release, “all the voters who participated in this democratic exercise”.

“Go vote”

“The more a party keeps its distance from China, the more I support it,” said a student who came to attend the DPP results evening on Saturday. “This does not mean that we should not have exchanges with China, but it should not affect our subjectivity,” added the young man, who only gave his last name, Huang. Yvonne, 31, who went to vote in Taichung (central-west) said she was “not particularly worried about our relations with China, because none of the candidates dared to propose any radical measure”.

“Please go vote to show the vitality of Taiwanese democracy,” Lai Ching-te said in the morning before casting his ballot in the ballot box in the gymnasium of a school in Tainan ( south). “We should all cherish our democracy and vote enthusiastically.” All week, Beijing has increased its diplomatic and military pressure. On Thursday, five Chinese balloons crossed the median line separating the autonomous island from China, according to the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense, which also spotted ten planes and six warships.

Censorship from China

On Saturday, AFP journalists observed a Chinese fighter plane over the town of Pingtan, the closest to Taiwan. And on the Chinese social network Weibo, the hashtag “Election in Taiwan” was blocked in the morning. In China, media coverage of the vote was reduced to a minimum during the campaign and on Saturday evening, the news on state television did not even mention it. The status of Taiwan is one of the most explosive subjects of the rivalry between China and the United States, the territory’s main military supporter, and Washington plans to send an “informal delegation” to the island after the vote .

On Friday, the head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken met in Washington with Liu Jianchao, head of the international division of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. He reminded him of the importance of “maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.” A conflict in the Taiwan Strait would be disastrous for the global economy: the island supplies 70% of the planet’s semiconductors and more than 50% of the containers transported worldwide pass through the strait.