Beijing expected to maintain policy towards Taiwan despite KMT loss, analysts say

Beijing is unlikely to change its overall policy towards Taiwan despite the strong showing by the island's main opposition party in local elections on the weekend, analysts say.

Beijing would continue to foster economic and cultural ties while abiding by the "one-China" principle, some mainland observers said.

"Beijing's bottom line on the one-China principle has always been very clear," said Yang Lixian, a Taiwan affairs expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. "If whoever wins the 2016 presidential election chooses to cross the line, there will be no room for further economic and other dialogue."

Under the principle, both sides agree there is only one China but each has its own interpretation of what one China is.

Liu Guoshen, from Xiamen University's Taiwan Research Institute, said Beijing would not abandon its pursuit of peaceful progress in cross-strait ties.

"The mainland has the ability to dominate the direction of cross-strait relations, and it has also become more confident [in Taiwan affairs]," Liu said. "Nowadays some Democratic Progressive Party candidates are also serious about their relations with the mainland."

Douglas Paal, vice-president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a former de facto US envoy to Taipei, said any changes to the mainland's policy would depend on the actions of the DPP, Central News Agency (CNA) quoted him as saying.