She has her work cut out – spur the struggling economy of Taiwan and reach out to China for better relations with them. But the people trust that she can deliver and have given her a strong mandate. Dr Tsai Ing-wen, chief of the opposition, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), has won a historic landslide victory in Taiwan’s Presidential race.
What’s remarkable about her victory is, Dr Tsai is without political-family dynastic connections, and her feat is a first in the Chinese-speaking world. Dr Tsai will now become the first female president of the island with 23 million people.
Her party has also won decisively in the island’s legislative election, defeating the incumbents Kuomintang. For the first time in its history, DPP took 60 percent of the 113 seats in Taiwan’s Parliament.
Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has congratulated Dr Tsai and her party on the victory. Describing Singapore as ‘a longstanding friend’ of Taiwan, MFA in its statement said that it “looks forward to maintaining our close relations and cooperation with Taiwan based on our consistent ‘One China’ policy”.
Former Non-Constituency Member of Parliament, Mr Gerald Giam, has also acknowledged Dr Tsai’s and DPP’s victory in the recently concluded election.
Sharing news of the victory in his Facebook, Mr Giam said, “no governing party rules forever”.