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Taiwan's president, Tsai Ing-wen, has resigned as leader of the country's Progressive Democratic Party (DPP) after suffering heavy losses against opposition nationalists, the Kuomintang ( KMT), in the local elections this weekend.
The PDP lost about half of the towns and counties it had won during its landslide on the island in 2014, while losing the mayor's run to Kaohsiung, which he had been controlling for 20 years after a defeat against KMT defender Han Kuo-yu.
"Now that I have resigned from my position as party leader, the DPP will be subject to organizational reforms," Tsai told the press after accepting responsibility for the election result. But she refused to accept the resignation of Prime Minister William Lai.
At the same time, Han, now Kaohsiung's elected mayor, said the city would travel to Beijing after two years of strained relations that marked Tsai's presidency.
"My position on cross-border relations is that of the 1992 consensus," said Han, referring to an informal agreement between the Chinese Communist Party and the ruling KMT that Taiwan would be a reunited province of China, and therefore can not become a member of international organizations.
"And it is because of the consensus of 1992 that when Kaohsiung will address the rest of the world, we will do it without any barriers," said Han, who was elected on a platform promising economic benefits through closer ties with the communist government in Beijing, which has never ruled Taiwan.
Mainland Chinese state media reacted with enthusiasm over the PDP's defeats in the elections, blaming their dissatisfaction with Tsai's administration and their policy of ignoring the 1992 consensus.
"The secessionist position of the Tsai administration has not only spoiled its crucial relations with the Chinese mainland, but has also made it unpopular with people on both sides of the strait," said the president. China Daily says in an editorial.
"The elections show that the Tsai government has betrayed Taiwan's interests and become a troublemaker whose actions have moved away from the practical needs of the Taiwanese people and the historical truth of the consensus, there is only one. 39, only one China. "
Tsai refused to support the 1992 consensus, also known as the "One China Policy", and Beijing fought back with military sword attacks and a campaign to further isolate Taipei on the world stage.
the Global Times called on Tsai to "turn around" on the 1992 consensus following the election results.
Elections were tainted by fears of a growing influx of secret funding backed by Beijing and government accusations that Beijing was using social media to try to influence the election result.
On the same weekend, pro-Beijing candidate Yan Chang sat on the Hong Kong Legislative Council (LegCo) vacated by the disqualification of a pro-democracy legislator whose pledge of allegiance had been invalidated by the Chinese parliament.
Economic arguments
Hung Chih-fu, a professor of politics at Taiwan's Cheng Kung National University, said Beijing has recently stepped up its campaigns for the results of the democratic elections held in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Its main feature is the use of essentially economic arguments.
"They are following in the footsteps of the economic map," Hung said in Germany on Monday. "That is, they use democratic means to advance their agenda in both places."
"Previously, the methods they used were rather crude and did not really have the desired effect," he said. "Now these are game democracies, play them to their own game … [and] they are becoming better at … influencing political developments in both places. "
Hong Kong's political commentator, Sang Pu, said the issue of Chinese influence has not yet been understood by many voters and that Han's victory in Kaohsiung has shown the effectiveness of economic arguments to convince voters.
"The economy card has been played for all that it's worth," Sang said. "Han Kuo-yu was elected mayor of Kaohsiung on this basis, and in Hong Kong, Yan Chan held on an economic platform."
"Economic arguments and campaigns are becoming more and more common," he said.
Taiwanese voters also rejected the idea of same-sex marriage in a referendum to pave the way for the legalization of same-sex marriage in Taiwan.
In violation of the island's liberal reputation in the region, more than two-thirds of voters subscribed to the definition of marriage between a man and a woman.
The result of the referendum comes after a ruling by the Constitutional Court of 2017 that same-sex couples have the right to marry and set a two-year deadline for the government to legislate.
LGBT groups said they were considering a judicial challenge to the vote, citing a campaign of misinformation led by anti-groups during the referendum campaign and more than 2,000 reports of violations of the electoral rule. .
Support for autonomy
Taiwan was ruled as a Japanese colony 50 years before the end of the Second World War, but was surrendered to the Republic of China in 1911, under the Kuomintang nationalist government, as part of the reparations agreement. Post-war signed by Tokyo.
When the 1911 regime fled to Taiwan in 1947 after losing a civil war against Mao Zedong's communist troops, the government of the Republic of China stopped controlling most of China, though 39, it remains the official name of the government of Taiwan.
The island began its transition to democracy after the death of Chiang's son, President Chiang Ching-kuo, in January 1988. It began with direct elections to the legislature in the early 1990s and resulted in the first direct election of President Lee Teng-hui. in 1996.
Recent opinion polls indicate that there is broad political support for self-government in Taiwan, where the majority of voters identify as being Taiwanese rather than Chinese.
But Beijing sees the island as part of China and has threatened to invade if Taiwan seeks formal independence.
Reported by Jing Yuan and Hwang Chun-mei for the FRG Mandarin Service and by Chung Kuang-cheng for Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
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