While many Americans have been focused on the 2016 presidential race, watching the last Republican and Democratic debates with zeal (and perhaps a bit of anxiety), the people of Taiwan are celebrating the election of their nation’s first female president.
On Saturday, January 16, Tsai Ing-wen not only defeated Eric Chu in Taiwan’s presidential election with 56% of the vote, but also became the second president not to belong to Taiwan’s prominent Kuomintang party. Ms. Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party (D.P.P.), a proponent of Taiwan’s formal separation from China, gained widespread favor after government policies left Taiwan’s economy debilitated.
Since becoming independent in 1950 and holding its first presidential election in 1996, Taiwan has had a complicated relationship with China. While the Chinese government believes Taiwan to be a dissentious territory—one that should be under its control—many Taiwanese have rejected their connection to the mainland. Relations between the two states have remained peaceful because of the Kuomintang’s pro-China policies. However, since signing a landmark trade agreement in 2010, Taiwan has struggled economically. Many Taiwanese workers have moved overseas to find jobs and, as Austin Ramzy of the New York Times writes: “Wages have stagnated and housing prices in major cities like Taipei have remained out of the reach of many people.”
Though Tsai Ing-wen has never openly rejected ties to China, her criticism of the Kuomintang’s economic policies formed the foundation of her presidential campaign. On the eve of the election, Ms. Tsai spoke to supporters in front of the Presidential Office Building in Taipei. Not only did she discuss the unrest within the nation’s capital, alluding to recent demonstrations and protests over the trade agreement with China, but also stressed her frustration with the actions of the presidential office. She declared, “behind me is the presidential office. It’s just a few hundred meters away from the people. But those inside the presidential office can’t hear the voice of the people.”
Vowing to listen to the Taiwanese, President Tsai Ing-wen said that she and her government aim to focus their attention on finding “peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait in order to bring the greatest benefits and well-being to the Taiwanese people.” With the struggling economy at the forefront of her regime, Tsai Ing-wen is in a remarkable position to not only solve the nation’s economic crisis but also be the woman to do it. There is new hope that Ms. Tsai will be the woman to transform the traditionally patriarchal views of her nation.
Sources:
- https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/tw.html
- http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-16177285
- http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/14/world/asia/taiwan-elections-china.html
- http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/17/world/asia/taiwan-elections.html?_r=0
- http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-35368930