Looming Trouble

By John West

John West is executive director of the Asian Century Institute, which conducts research and analysis and participates in policy dialogues to foster a better understanding of the opportunities and challenges of the Asian Century."

The expected victory of Tsai Ing-wen in Taiwan’s upcoming presidential elections threatens to destabilize relations across the Taiwan Straits, and the Asia-Pacific more broadly. Tsai represents the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), a pro-independence party.

China regards Taiwan as a renegade province of descendants of the Kuomintang (KMT) government, which lost the Chinese Civil War against Mao’s Communist Party in 1949.  Reunifying Mainland China and Taiwan under the banner of China’s “one-China policy” is fundamental for China’s national sovereignty.

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