Taiwan has re-elected its president Tsai Ing-wen over a landslide victory. The election results were said to be a manifestation of the country's resistance to Chinese reign after favoring a democratic government. Nevertheless, China continues to claim sovereignty over Taiwan and believes that it still forms part of its territory.
The 15th Presidential Election of Taiwan yielded a record of 8.17 million voters in Taiwan re-elected Tsai as the country's president, reported Taiwan's election commission. Last Saturday, upon release of the official results, Tsai addressed thousands of her supporters at an election rally and said that Democratic Taiwan and its democratically elected government refuses to respond to threats and intimidation from China. She also manifested that the results of the election mirror her sentiments.
Tsai's Democratic Progressive Party has also maintained its majority status in Taiwan's legislature. According to National Public Radio, the results were the highest number ever lodged for a presidential candidate since the country began voting for its own president in 1996.
It was also revealed that Taiwan does not support absentee voting. Hence, thousands of Taiwanese living abroad had to re-enter the country to cast their ballot. The said year's election was perceived to be an urgent matter for the Taiwanese which led them to observe extreme measures to get their votes counted.
Among the newly elected president's campaign revolved around the promotion of educational programs and healthcare reforms. It was also emphasized by the report that he had garnered about 57 percent of the popular vote. She was also said to have taken an aggressive stance in protesting Beijing's rule over the country.
Nonetheless, Tsai's opponent, populist mayor Han-Kuo-yu continued to show his support for China. He was reported to have welcomed closer economic ties with Beijing. He also manifested his deep interest in making Taiwan safe and that Tsai's planned policies might defeat this goal. He claimed that she would provoke military action from China.
Similarly, China has promised Taiwan that it would unify the country. The country has abstained from ridding military force out of Taiwan in the hopes that its efforts would promote the reunification of Chinese territories.
China also refrained from announcing the presidential win in Taiwan claiming that Tsai had been deliberately antagonizing the country. A Chinese state-run tabloid Global Times announced through its Twitter account that analysts from China's mainland perceive more obstacles underway especially in cross-Straits relations after her win.
