Posted on 01/14/2012 6:59:40 AM PST by SeekAndFind
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan's president won re-election Saturday, paving the way for a continuation of the China-friendly policies that have delighted Beijing and Washington, and caused consternation among some in Taiwan worried about the durability of their de facto independence.
With about 99 percent of the vote counted, the official Central Election Commission said President Ma Ying-jeou had garnered 51.6 percent of the total against 45.6 percent for Tsai Ing-wen of the main opposition Democratic Progressive Party. A third candidate, James Soong, once a heavyweight with Ma's Nationalist Party, had 2.8 percent.
Ma's Nationalist Party also retained control of the 113-seat legislature, though with a reduced majority. Speaking before thousands of jubilant supporters in downtown Taipei, Ma said his China policies had resonated with voters.
"They gave us support for our policy to put aside differences with the mainland. To search for peace and turn it into business opportunities," he said. Since taking office in May 2008, Ma has tied Taiwan ever closer to China, which for the last 60 years has represented a military threat, a political rival and, most recently, a key commercial partner.
The two sides split amid civil war in 1949, and China has never renounced its threat to use military force to bring the democratic island under its control. But over the past several years, and especially since Ma was first elected, tensions have eased considerably amid an upsurge in trade and new transportation and tourist links across the 100-mile-wide (160-kilometer-wide) Taiwan Strait. Ma's re-election will be seen in Beijing as a big victory for President Hu Jintao, who has moved away from China's previous policy of repeatedly threatening the island with war and instead has tried to woo Taiwanese by showing the economic benefits of closer ties.
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Good or bad?
IMHO, IT IS GOOD.
Trade moves freely between Taiwan and China, America doesn’t have to worry about another tension in Southeast Asia, and our economy does not get affected.
Let’s not forget that a lot of what Taiwan designs and engineers are assembled in China, and WE IMPORT THEM.
China is the second largest economy in the world. Taiwan is in the top 15. Tensions between the two will affect economies everywhere.
I agree and that was my first thought, but I am naturally skeptical in outlook. Given the difficulty in defending an island off the coast of China from China this is a very good thing.
She thought it was funny that who she voted against is named MA and our President that her husband will vote against is ObaMA. The two bad "MA's" is what she calls them.
I gather the current president opened the door to illegal immigration from China, that is now flooding Taiwan, with the same idea of the leftists in Europe opening the door to immigrants on condition that they vote for leftists.
China will take over Taiwan, not by their military, but through their “Mergers and Acquisitions Department.”
Whatever her opinion about China, one thing is clear, is that Taiwan is slowly, through economic ties, becoming part of China. And China’s global influence in the world is having an effect on other countries, even the US. So, if Obama loses in 2012 and a more conservative President is elected, he too will tow the “one country, two systems” for China and move on to more important issues.
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