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Tsai Ing-wen seen as more flexible than former DPP president

ROC Central News Agency

2016/01/17 19:35:08

Taipei, Jan . 17 (CNA) President-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) appears to be more flexible than the first person from her Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to win the presidency, Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), a former director of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said Sunday.

When Chen took office in 2000, putting the opposition DPP in power for the first time, Beijing felt it could not accept the DPP leading Taiwan, triggering friction across the Taiwan Strait, said Stephen Young, who was director of AIT's Taipei office from 2006 to 2009.

He was in Taiwan as part of an international observer mission that came to observe Taiwan's presidential and legislative elections held Saturday.

Compared with Chen, Tsai has appeared to be more flexible, Young said, but he believed the key factor in the future development of cross-strait ties will be China's response to Tsai being the president of Taiwan.

If China takes a tougher stance on its Taiwan policy, it could affect cross-strait ties and also the United States' relations with China and Taiwan, Young told local media on the sidelines of a news conference called by the international observer team.

A report issued by the mission said Taiwan's sixth presidential election showed it was turning into a mature democracy and also described Tsai's victory in the presidential race as a milestone in the history of Taiwan.

The completion of the sixth direct presidential election demonstrated that Taiwan has evolved from an authoritarian regime into a mature democracy characterized by basic freedoms and complete election procedures, the mission said.

Tsai will become Taiwan's first female president on May 20, when she takes over from President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who will finish his second four-year term.

During the transition period, the issue of a new Cabinet will require the cooperation of the Ma administration and the new administration, said Akihisa Nagashima, a member of the House of Representatives of Japan who was part of the observation mission.

If the issue is not handled well, it might affect cross-strait relations, he warned.

Taiwan's Cabinet will resign en masse Monday afternoon after the DPP won both the presidential and legislative elections, Cabinet spokesman Sun Lih-chyun (孫立群) said Sunday.

After resigning, the Cabinet headed by Premier Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) will wait for instructions from President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) based on his consultations with the DPP's government-in-waiting, Sun said.

The Ma administration has offered to allow the DPP to form a Cabinet before Tsai is sworn in May, but the proposal appears to have been shot down.

(By Tang Pei-chun and Elaine Hou)
ENDITEM/ls