Taiwan’s president-elect calls for ‘healthy dialogues’ with Beijing in party-to-party talks

His remarks came amid soaring cross-strait tensions. Beijing has denounced Lai as a “troublemaker” and an “obstinate separatist”, and has tried to downplay the significance of the ruling party’s electoral victory. The DPP won just 40 per cent of the ballot and lost its majority in the legislature. Earlier this month, Taiwan’s former leader Ma … Read more

Could the fatal Taiwan coastguard chase be used to chart a course to ease cross-strait tensions?

To retrieve the two surviving fishermen, a 10-member delegation arrived in Quemoy, led by Li Zhaohui, deputy director of the Taiwan Affairs Office in Quanzhou, Fujian province. The group, which also included six bereaved family members, a lawyer and two local Red Cross officials, organised the passage of the two survivors back to Quanzhou on … Read more

Can Taiwan’s KMT yield to changing voter attitudes without offending Beijing?

It was also a losing night for Lin’s party, which failed to take the legislature and the presidency to give the ruling DPP an unprecedented third term in power under president-elect William Lai Ching-te. The KMT’s defeat is the first time in Taiwan’s 30 years of democracy that a political party has spent three consecutive … Read more