Beijing 'in no rush' to push its Taiwan luck
Despite a relatively mainland-friendly candidate being elected, Beijing will not rush to push for unification with Taiwan as 'the time is not yet ripe', analysts said yesterday.
Beijing has refrained from commenting on the election so far but is widely seen as favouring the winner - the Kuomintang's Ma Ying-jeou.
'Now Beijing is relieved - there won't be any bad-mouthing of the mainland any more as the Democratic Progressive Party did over the last eight years,' said Li Jiaquan , a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Shen Jiru of the World Economic and Political Institute in Beijing said the pro-independence drive by the DPP had cost the island dearly on the economic front, and it was time the KMT rebuilt the island's economy by improving cross-strait trade ties. But a breakthrough on the political front would be less likely.
After his landslide victory over the weekend, Mr Ma said yesterday he would work on a better relationship with the mainland. But he said he had no plans to visit.
This stance would be acceptable to Beijing, Professor Li said.
'The mainland leaders know that the conditions for reunification are not there yet, so they won't push for it in a hurry,' he said.
'Beijing knows Mr Ma is anti-communist. As long as he is not anti-China, that should be fine,' he said.
The election was featured on popular mainland websites, which carried reports mostly from Xinhua.
