In 2016, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen created history by becoming the first female head of state on the island.<\/p>\n
However, as she gets ready to step down after her second four-year term ends in May, analysts note that she will leave president-elect William Lai Ching-te with a challenging legacy because, during her administration, Taiwan was regarded as one of the world\u2019s most dangerous flashpoints for conflict.<\/p>\n
During an election night rally outside the Democratic Progressive Party headquarters in Taipei, William Lai Ching-te and his running mate, Hsiao Bi-khim, (right), celebrate their victory. Elson in picture Li While some analysts said Tsai was not solely to blame, observers said that her management of cross-strait relations was the main cause of the conflict risk.<\/p>\n
After Tsai assumed power, cross-strait tensions increased, according to James Yifan Chen, a professor of diplomacy and international relations at Tamkang University in New Taipei. Taiwan is now viewed as a potentially dangerous hotspot for conflict on a global scale.<\/p>\n
Following Ma Ying-jeou\u2019s departure from the mainland-friendly Kuomintang in 2016, Tsai abandoned Ma\u2019s engagement strategy with Beijing. She refused to acknowledge the \u201c1992 consensus,\u201d which Ma acknowledged as a verbal agreement that Taiwan is a part of \u201cone China,\u201d despite the possibility that the two sides have different ideas about what China represents.<\/p>\n
As a result of her rejection, Beijing launched a pressure campaign in which it halted official negotiations and exchanges, abducted nine of the island\u2019s allies, and conducted military drills all around the island.<\/p>\n
As Beijing has stepped up military operations around the island, tensions have increased because Beijing views Taiwan as a part of China that should be reunited by force if necessary.<\/p>\n
While the majority of nations, including the U.S., do not recognize Taiwan as an independent state, Washington is dedicated to arming the self-governing island and is against any attempt to seize it by force.<\/p>\n
Following an unprecedented third consecutive term for the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Tsai\u2019s deputy Lai\u2014previously known as a member of the hardline pro-independence camp\u2014was elected president on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Chen stated that Washington\u2019s decision to send a delegation to Taiwan so soon after the election shows that it is worried about the rising geopolitical tensions brought on by the impasse across the Taiwan Strait.<\/p>\n
One day following the island\u2019s presidential election, on Sunday, a U.S. delegation led by former Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg and national security adviser Stephen Hadley arrived in Taiwan.<\/p>\n
In the absence of formal ties, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) serves as Washington\u2019s de facto embassy on the island. The organization, led by AIT chairwoman Laura Rosenberger, is scheduled to meet with a \u201crange of leading political figures\u201d on Monday.<\/p>\n
According to observers, Tsai\u2019s track record on cross-strait relations could pose difficulties for Lai, and his support for independence would put his capacity for handling the situation to the test.<\/p>\n
Tsai\u2019s determination to preserve the status quo and her choice to forgo declaring independence demonstrate her reputation for being willing to make concessions to keep the cross-strait situation from getting worse, according to observers.<\/p>\n
Lu claimed that although Tsai was successful in raising Taiwan\u2019s profile internationally, the world was concerned about how she handled cross-strait relations.<\/p>\n
By implementing the policy, Tsai hopes to lessen Taiwan\u2019s dependency on the mainland market and persuade Taiwan\u2019s leading business community to reinvest in Southeast Asia and India.<\/p>\n
According to Ho, Tsai implemented the policy soon after taking office, but given Taiwan\u2019s continued reliance on mainland China for trade, its results have not been as positive as anticipated thus far.<\/p>\n
According to Xin Qiang, deputy director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, Lai would not stray from Tsai\u2019s core policy tenets, including the New Southbound Policy.<\/p>\n
Lai will continue the policy because politics is more important to her than the economy. Given that both Lai and Tsai are staunch supporters of Taiwan\u2019s independence, they are not all that dissimilar. Naturally, Lai has positioned himself as a more assertive figure, referring to himself as a practical advocate for Taiwan\u2019s independence, according to Xin.<\/p>\n
However, the academic noted that as Lai pursued his \u201cseparatist\u201d cause, he would come up against both internal and external obstacles.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As Tsai Ing-wen steps down, her impactful legacy sets the stage for President-Elect William Lai\u2019s ascent, marking a pivotal transition in Taiwan\u2019s leadership.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":404,"featured_media":9408,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[6118,6077,6076,261,6075],"class_list":["post-9404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-taiwan","tag-ho-chih-young","tag-political-transition","tag-president-elect-william-lai","tag-taiwan","tag-tsai-ing-wen-legacy"],"reading_time":"4 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/404"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9404"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9404\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}