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TAIPEI (Reuters) – China's official media lobbied Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen on Monday after its pro-independence party suffered heavy defeats in local elections this weekend as officials sought determine what was wrong.
Tsai, who faces the presidential election in little more than a year, resigned on Saturday to the presidency of the Progressive Democratic Party (DPP) after losing key towns on the battlefield during the presidential elections. Elections by mayors against the Kuomintang, a friend of China.
The PDP controls only six cities and counties out of the 15 that count the Kuomintang.
Han Kuo-yu, the Kuomintang's elected mayor in the southern port city of Kaohsiung, and the most prominent of the party's winners, said he would open the door to contacts with China.
Beijing has refused to handle the administration of Tsai since taking office in 2016, accusing it of pushing for the formal independence of the island. It is a red line for China, which considers the territory of the island's sacred and proudly democratic island.
Tsai said that she wanted to maintain the status quo with China but that she would defend Taiwan's security and democracy, especially in the face of growing pressure from China, such as the reduction of the band. Taiwan's declining diplomatic allies.
In the run-up to the elections, Tsai had warned against Chinese efforts to interfere and that the people should defend democracy.
The China Daily said in an editorial that Tsai had ignored Beijing's "cooperation position" and forced its relations into a stalemate, claiming that "its separatist stance has made it lose the support of the islanders." .
"Communication and cooperation between local governments between the two shores should be strengthened following the elections, which will generate more opportunities and help deepen mutual understanding," he writes.
The Kuomintang has sent delegations to China since Tsai took office, where they have been warmly welcomed, and contacts are likely to intensify.
Hung Mong-kai, a Kuomintang spokesman, said that he was "certain" that there would now be more interactions with China.
Chiu Chui-cheng, deputy minister of the Mainland Affairs Council of Taiwan, told Reuters that the government had always welcomed trade with China, but that Beijing's "political preconditions" had hindered such talks. contact.
"We are always positive about city-to-city exchanges with mainland China, but they set a limit: they treat blue and green differently," he said, referring to Kuomintang colors. and the DPP.
Another state-run Chinese newspaper, the widely read tabloid, the Global Times, said in its editorial that the PDP's "radical thinking" had misplaced it, although the same article last week called politics of Tsai in China "measured".
Tsai's deputy close, Chen Chu, secretary general of the presidential office, said there was "no excuse" for the poor performance and that it was necessary to think deeply.
"We have to accept this lesson from people," she wrote on her Facebook page, without proposing solutions.
Lo Chih-cheng, a senior member of the PDP and legislator, told Reuters that the party had seduced no one with its moderate approach to both China and national issues. The PDP needed a program change and perhaps a more radical program to reach its main supporters.
"The holiday is in turmoil," said Mr. Lo, pointing out that one of the ways to please people would be to recover some of the smaller countries with which China has links.
"We were pushed into a corner, without retaliating. And that again disappointed our supporters, "he said.
Nevertheless, the Taiwanese stock market .TWII was encouraged by Kuomintang gains, on expectations of better relations with China, closing at more than 1%. The Taiwanese dollar TWD = TP is also strengthened.
China has not concealed its joy over the poor results of the PDP.
A source close to the Chinese leadership, asked Beijing what she thought of the end result. She simply told Reuters: "They are really happy."
Report by Ben Blanchard and Yimou Lee; Other reports from Jess Macy Yu and Jeanny Kao and Brenda Goh in Shanghai; Edited by Paul Tait and Nick Macfie
