In May, 2016, Taiwanese had elected their 14th president, Ying-Wen Tsai. The election didn’t just change the president but also the power between the two biggest political party in Taiwan. Tsai came from the DPP (Democratic Progressive Party), which have a stronger, more resisting attitude towards China and Chinese policies and also they fight for full independence of the country rather than the current status.
In response to the change of attitude, the Chinese government took actions to impact Taiwanese economy such as limiting the number of tourists that come to Taiwan. On the other hand, the Chinese government also become very active on “unifying” the country. Before Tsai was in office, China had signed many economy treaties with the former president, Ma, and send officials oversea to interact and learn about Taiwan. The sudden change of attitude had created some tension between the two countries.
To release this tension, the Taiwanese government could change their attitude into more open to listening and communicate with China and continue to make trade agreements that help their economy. The other solution could be that Taiwan starts to move away from China and towards economy independent, therefore, China won’t be able to put pressure on Taiwan. However, this is extremely hard to achieve and Taiwan couldn’t do it without other countries’ help.
The relation between Taiwan and China could also effect the relationships with other Asian countries for these two countries. Any decisions can lead to a chain reaction in Asia and possibly causing a third world war. The problems in the South China Sea and China’s refusal to step down didn’t help to solve this situation. As of now, nothing seems to be able to ease the tension in the region. Any sudden changes could escalate the tension and causing China to use military force to take over the South China Sea.
