Taiwan after the elections: what next? European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS) Alert, No 7, February 2016
On 16 January, the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won a double victory over the ruling party, the Kuomintang (KMT). DPP candidate Tsai Ing-wen was elected president with 56% of the vote, and for the first time the party won a majority in the Legislative Yuan – Taiwan’s parliament – with 68 of the 113 seats.
Taiwan’s foreign policy will remain highly dependent on the evolution of cross-strait relations, as well as US-China relations. But much uncertainty remains over Tsai’s ‘China policy’, the adjustment of Beijing’s own strategy and the overall evolution of cross-strait relations in the coming months and years.
The best indicator of Taiwan’s new domestic and foreign policy orientations will be Tsai’s inauguration speech on 20 May, but it is already possible to identify some of them based on a close look at recent declarations and speeches.