On 11 January, President Tsai Ing-wen won a landslide victory in Taiwan’s presidential elections, earning a second term as president of the ROC (Taiwan). Winning 8.17 million votes, or 57.13 per cent, President Tsai defeated Han Kuo-yu of the major opposition party Kuomintang (KMT) by 2.65 million votes, while People First Party candidate James Soong received 4.3 percent of the ballot. President Tsai’s party, the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), secured a majority in the legislative election, winning 61 of 113 seats. In the run-up to the event, the TRO hosted an election watch party at its London office, which was attended by UK parliamentarians as well as representatives from London’s diplomatic corps and press.

Following her victory, President Tsai held an international news conference to express gratitude for the support of the people and stress her commitment to advancing reforms, building Taiwan into a country with a better education environment and a more competitive economy, as well as fast-tracking infrastructure development and social care. The president stressed this election has shown that the Taiwanese people hope the international community will witness our commitment to democratic values and will respect our national identity, and expressed hope that Taiwan will be given fair opportunity to participate in international affairs. “As an indispensable member of the international community, Taiwan will continue working with the rest of the world to ensure regional peace, stability and prosperity,” she added. President Tsai emphasised the results of this election carry an added significance as they have shown that when Taiwan’s sovereignty and democracy are threatened, the Taiwanese people will shout their determination even more loudly back. She reiterated the government’s commitment to maintaining cross-strait stability, adding that peace, reciprocity, democracy and dialogue are key to the healthy and long-term development of relations between the two sides.

That day, UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab offered his warm congratulations to the people of Taiwan on the smooth conduct of the elections and to President Tsai and her party upon her re-election. Secretary Raab stressed that Taiwan’s presidential and legislative elections are testament to the country’s vibrant democracy, and expressed hope that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait will renew dialogue to resolve differences and build constructive relations.

(Original source: gov.uk)

In addition to the Foreign Secretary, British-Taiwanese All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) Co-Chair Lord Rogan and President Lord Steel of Aikwood issued a statement of congratulations to President Tsai on her re-election. “Taiwan has once again demonstrated its maturity as a beacon of democracy in a region of the world where these values are not present everywhere and at times suppressed,” the parliamentarians stated. The APPG leaders expressed confidence that under President Tsai’s leadership in her second term, Taiwan’s commitment to human rights, democracy and freedom will continue to grow, and be a shining example to others in the Asia-Pacific region and the world.