Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen opts for low-key anniversary of first turbulent year in office
Leader hosts a visit to her office by indigenous children rather than stage a news conference to report on her achievements
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen opted for a low-profile celebration of her first year in office on Saturday, skipping a usual news conference to report on her achievements in the past 12 months.
Instead, she played host at her official residence to a group of indigenous children, allowing her to enjoy a quiet day in the face of growing pressure from Beijing, public dissatisfaction with her performance, challenges by a disgraced former president and pressing requests for the island to declare independence.
Tsai led her independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to a crushing defeat of the mainland-friendly Kuomintang (KMT) in presidential and parliamentary elections in January last year, taking office as the island’s first woman president on May 20, 2016.
But Tsai’s approval ratings soon plunged despite her efforts to introduce social, judicial and economic reforms.
Most Taiwanese news media ran reports on Saturday about her performance over the year, focusing on why her approval rating tumbled so dramatically from a high of 56 per cent to just 18 per cent.
Among the causes cited were the cross-strait stalemate leading to growing pressure from Beijing, and unwelcome employment and pension reforms.
“The public was unhappy with what they viewed as unreasonable policies, which were not only rashly made but also harmed the rights and interests of the public. Tsai Ing-wen responded by turning a deaf ear to a disgruntled public,” a commentary in the local United Daily News said.
The Taipei-based China Times also criticised her for being “too arrogant to look her faltering popularity in the face”.
But the pro-government Liberty Times focused on Tsai’s call for President Xi Jinping to discard the “old test paper” and replace it with a new one, given the transfer of power from the KMT to the DPP last year.
Beijing – which regards Taiwan as a renegade province subject to eventual reunion, by force if necessary – has suspended talks and exchanges with Taiwan since Tsai took office and refused to accept the “1992 consensus”.
Beijing considers Tsai’s refusal to accept the consensus as her failure in completing Xi’s “test paper”, which Beijing uses to judge whether to maintain exchanges with the island.
The consensus is an understanding made in 1992 to allow the two sides to continue their talks as long as they abide by the one-China principle, in which each can have its own interpretation of what “China” stands for.
An Fengshan, a spokesman for the mainland’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said late on Friday that there was no room for ambiguity in matters concerning “the common future and fate of people on the two sides of the Taiwan Strait”.
He also said Beijing insisted on acceptance of the one-China principle as well as the 1992 consensus and resolutely opposed any form of independence for the island.
His response was seen as Beijing’s direct rejection of Tsai’s call for Xi to work with her to manage cross-strait peace and prosperity, observers said.
They said Beijing would continue to pressure Tsai, including through attempts to further isolate the island on the international stage.
Meanwhile, disgraced former president Chen Shui-bian, who was jailed for corruption but released on medical parole last year, made use of Tsai’s plunging popularity to pressure her to grant him amnesty.
At a fundraising dinner on the eve of Tsai’s anniversary, Chen joined a group of his supporters and released a pre-recorded speech in defiance of prison authorities. In the speech, the former president attacked Tsai’s pension reforms and challenged her ban on him speaking publicly in person.
Some pro-independence activists seized the opportunity to demand that Tsai grant Chen an amnesty and to go ahead and declare Taiwan’s independence, ignoring the expected fury from Beijing.
Also yesterday, a group of former toll station workers staged an illegal protest in front of Tsai’s office, demanding her government compensate them for their losses after the closure of the toll stations.
