“We’re a successful democracy, we have a pretty decent economy, we deserve respect from China.” Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen said that to the BBC, days after voters gave her a second term in a landslide.
She told Beijing to “face reality.” In her victory speech she had already called on China to drop its threat to take the island back by force, and the interview went further on sovereignty. “We don’t have a need to declare ourselves an independent state,” she said. “We are an independent country already and we call ourselves the Republic of China (Taiwan).”
Tsai, who opposes closer ties with China, described the result as a reflection of what the Taiwanese people want. Her Democratic Progressive Party, which favours independence, had beaten the China-friendly opposition for the fourth time.
She warned that Taiwanese people react when anything cuts against their identity. “We have a separate identity and we’re a country of our own. So, if there’s anything that runs counter to this idea, they will stand up and say that’s not acceptable to us,” she said.
Beijing played the result down. Xinhua, the state news agency, called it “a temporary counter-current” that was “just a bubble under the tide of the times.” China also criticised officials from the United States and other countries who congratulated Tsai. Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said officials from more than 60 countries had sent greetings, according to a Jan. 13 report from taiwannews.com.tw.
Beijing regards democratic, self-ruled Taiwan as a breakaway province and says it will be reunified with China by force if necessary.
Messages of congratulations also came from the Dalai Lama, from Lobsang Sangay, the elected leader of the Tibetan people, and from Speaker Puma Jungney of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile.
