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Taiwan elections: What does Tsai Ing-wen's victory mean for island's future
Taiwan Jan 14, 2020, 12.50 PM(IST) Written By: The Conversation
Wang Yi and Tsai Ing-wen Photograph:( AFP )
Tsai emphasised that Taiwan is not willing to accept the "one country, two systems" relationship with China – a reference to the system currently in place in Hong Kong.
By Niki J P Alsford
The re-election of Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen is a remarkable moment for global progressive politics in the face of continued populism, fake news and voter manipulation. Tsai, of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), won the January 11 poll with just over 8 million votes – 57.1 per cent of the total – the highest total number of votes in Taiwan's democratic history. Following a bitter electoral campaign marred by sexism, misinformation and cyberbullying, it was a resounding victory.
In the Legislative Yuan – Taiwan's parliament – the DPP won 61 of the 113 seats, a drop of seven seats from the 2016 election but a majority of four seats. Tsai's main rival, Han Kuo-yu, took 38.6 per cent of the vote in the presidential election and his party, the Kuomintang (KMT), won 38 seats in the Legislative Yuan – gaining three seats.
With Tsai representing those who want to distance Taiwan from China, much of the analysis of the result has been on the "China factor" and the rebuke to Beijing that her victory represents. But as my own research on Taiwanese history and society stresses, it's an injustice to Taiwan to always focus on a top-down, China-centric perspective.
The DPP is a centre-left party, which introduced same-sex marriage in Taiwan in 2019, and is a long-term member of Liberal International, a worldwide federation of progressive democratic parties. Tsai's victory, against a new form of populism pushed by Han, is a significant one for the island and emphasises how much Taiwanese people cherish their free and democratic way of life.
Blue wall remains
Tsai's success was due in part to a refusal by many Taiwanese to vote for Han as president. Most voters have two ballots, one for their local district candidate and the other for a party list. Of the 113 seats in parliament, 73 represent local constituencies and 34 are allocated from the party-list vote. A further six seats are reserved for Taiwan's indigenous population – elected via an extra single transferable vote for people with indigenous status.
For the 2020 party-list vote, the DPP took 33.9 per cent, while the KMT took 33.3 per cent, with a number of smaller other parties picking up the other third. Since Tsai's personal vote was so much more decisive, it suggests that many who voted for her in the presidential election voted for other parties in the party list vote.
A closer look at the new political map of Taiwan for both the presidential and parliamentary votes reveals there is still a clear blue wall – a reference to the blue colour of the China-leaning parties – extending across the centre and down the east coast.
Indigenous votes
Taiwan's indigenous peoples make up 2.38 per cent of the island's population. Their ancestry predates the majority settler Han Chinese communities that began arriving from the 17th century.
The KMT has long relied on the indigenous vote, due to a combination of identity politics and entrenched community service centres in indigenous areas. The foundation of these are the fuwuzhan, a type of centre established to provide essentials such as oil and rice to indigenous communities, established by the KMT under martial law when Taiwan was ruled by an authoritarian one-party system between 1949 and 1987.
Since 2008, when the DPP lost the presidential election, the party began to establish its own fuwuzhan, but the 64 it has are dwarfed by the 383 KMT-led ones, according to official figures.
In the 2020 election, the KMT won three of the six indigenous seats, the DPP two – gaining one seat – and one went to an independent candidate. Not only is indigenous culture essential in Taiwan's shift away from its sino-centric history, the reserved seat system for indigenous people can also play a pivotal role in the overall result, due to the lower voter threshold. The fact that the DPP won an extra seat demonstrated a potential shift away from the traditional "iron vote" of indigenous people for the KMT.
Future for the KMT and DPP
Questions surrounding the future of the KMT will undoubtedly be raised by their second successive election defeat on a ticket campaigning for closer relations to China. That said, 5 million voters still supported Han and his populist pro-China stance – a significant bloc of voters which both the KMT and DPP must pay attention to.
After losing the 2016 and now the 2020 elections, the KMT appear rudderless. To win back power, they will need a charismatic character like Ma Ying-jeou, their former president. Although Ma had an appalling approval rating towards the end of his tenure, he won 58.5 per cent of the vote in 2008 and 51.6 per cent in 2012.
A potential future leader for the KMT might be Chiang Wan-an, great-grandson of former Chinese President Chiang Kai-shek, who was re-elected for Taipei City District 3. As presidential candidate, Han had moved the KMT both towards the right of the political spectrum, and further towards China. But Chiang's credentials could see the KMT shift back to the more pragmatic engagement with China that it had in the past as a way to win back electoral support.
In her 2020 new year speech, Tsai emphasised that Taiwan is not willing to accept the "one country, two systems" relationship with China – a reference to the system currently in place in Hong Kong. The election result proves her point. As the global gaze falls upon Taiwan, it's up to Tsai and her government to keep repeating this message.
(Niki J P Alsford is Professor in Asia Pacific Studies, Director of the Asia Pacific Studies Institutes, University of Central Lancashire)
(This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article)
(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)


Rainclouds gather in the distance, a thunderstorm on the horizon. The figure of a lone woman enters the screen, intently watching the forest in anticipation as the wind shifts. A green creature rises its head, identified on sight as a Dragon. She leaps down the cliffs, closing the distance to the ancient creature. The first chapter of the story begins.
In a clearing still untouched by the brewing turmoil, a youth clad in red armour reads a paper that suggests a war might be approaching. Moments later, soldiers on horseback pass by, some of them halting to question the young man. He draws his sword, but ere the provocation turns violent, they are interrupted by the preying creature. As the soldiers scatter, the youth attempts to outrun the monster, but suffers a dangerous blow and is about to be forced to face it head-on – in a flash, a woman drops from the cliffs above and pulls him away from immediate danger. They hide in silence as the monster continues to wreak havoc. Eventually, it leaves.
To the agitated man, she explains that what he just saw is a Dragon, a creature of legends – not much of an explanation at all. As an afterthought, she mutters how strange it is for a Dragon to be employed when "that village could've been easily destroyed without". Alarm bells ringing, the man ignores her nonchalant statement that it's unlikely for there to be anything left of Seles by now, and rushes off towards his village.
The woman makes no effort to stop him, but to her astonishment, a light emits from an object in her possession as the youth disappears from view. She gazes after him in disbelief.
Dart's new quest starts as he leaves his second childhood home once more in order to rescue Shana, his childhood friend who has been taken to Hellena Prison. With the help of Lavitz, a knight loyal to the Kingdom of Basil, they are able to make their way out. Not up-to-date with the state of the country of Serdio after having been away for five years, Dart learns that Basil is at war with the Imperial Sandora, as the re-emergence of Dragons has broken the balance and the truce. To his companions, Dart mentions that he owes his life to a passing warrior. He also shares the story of his past with the two and shows them a memento of his father's, a shining stone. Lavitz suggests Dart and Shana come with him to speak with his king; as royalty with a long history, Basil's minister may have information on the Black Monster.
Though the newly acquired knowledge does not prove to be fruitful due to lack of records, Dart, inspired by his new friend's passion for his country and unwilling to continue living solely for himself, decides to join Lavitz to prevent more bloodshed in the senseless war. When they take the night watch at the fortress of Hoax, they are nearly overwhelmed by an enemy far stronger than even elite soldiers, but just as Dart is about to receive the opponent's final blow, a distant light pierces through the night sky – and again the woman, this time winged, armed and in full armour, swoops down to save his life once more. With her sword pointed at him, she commands: "Wake up! Dragoon of the Red-Eye Dragon!"
A red light emits from his father's stone, enveloping Dart in red flames as he transforms into something similar to the newcomer and causes the remaining soldiers to flee. Both the woman and Dart transform back; relieved to see Shana safe, he passes out.
As he regains his consciousness, he hears an alarmed Shana question the unknown woman, evidently attributing Dart's state to the her doing.
Recognizing his two-time saviour, he introduces her to his companions and thanks her, though she brushes it off: "I don't need any thanks. I wanted to do it." When he remarks that it's too much of a coincidence for them to run into each other again, she admits to having followed him after recognizing the artifact he carries: the Dragoon Spirit of the Red-Eye Dragon. Its shining light symbolizes that its holder deserves to rule Dragons – Dart has been chosen as a new Dragoon, and it is a fate he must accept. When asked whether or not she protected Dart solely because he carries a Dragoon Spirit just like her, she shows her surprise at her own actions, and explains that their group reminds her of "[her] dear old friends" who lived amidst the chaos, yet managed to seize their own fate in order to protect the ones important to them.
Dart: Can I ask you one thing? What are they doing now?
Rose: Everybody's gone. It's all in the past.
Shana: I am sorry. I think I was wrong about you, Rose.
Rose: It's okay. I am used to being hated.
I'll go too. ... ... It doesn't seem to be enough if it is only Dart and the others.
Neither the player nor Rose herself really know why she's joining the group; the vagueness in her reasoning is brought up again later. After she gives Dart (and thus the player) a tutorial on how to fight as a Dragoon, they head out together.
"The real fear has not even begun yet."


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The culture, political and economic hub of Tibet, Lhasa is the heart and soul of Tibet, and an object of devout pilgrimage. Visit Potala Palace, Norbulinka Palace, Jokhang Temple, Sera and Drepung monasteries is to explore the spiritual side in you. The Jokhang Temple and Bharkhhor circumambulation circuit is filled with pilgrims from all over and innumerable shops and wayside peddlers selling everything from prayer flags to yak skulls.
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Q: Why is my simple else statement not working correctly in my while loop? I'm a noob and probably dumb, but help is appreciated greatly. I want to know why the code finishes when it executes the "else" statement, I want it to continue the "while" loop.
import random
happy == "no"
while happy == "no":
    stat = random.randint(1,50)
    print (stat)
    happy = input("Are you happy with this?" )
    if happy == "yes":
        print("Okay moving on. ")
        break
else:
    print("Please enter a valid answer. ")

A: Your else should be at the same indent level of if, and you're trying to make a comparison (==) in the second line instead of defining the variable happy to be no (with =). This is the fixed code, which I could verify works for me in Python 3.7.4:
import random
happy = "no"
while happy == "no":
    stat = random.randint(1,50)
    print (stat)
    happy = input("Are you happy with this?" )
    if happy == "yes":
        print("Okay moving on. ")
        break
    else:
        print("Please enter a valid answer. ")

The else clause in while is for a specific purpose - somewhat counterintuitive even for non-beginner Python developers (let alone newcomers). You stumbled upon this construct "by accident", that's why your code didn't throw a SyntaxError and may have mislead you during debugging.

A: The answer is because your indentation. Indentation is very important in Python.
What you want to do is move the else statement to the same indentation level of if, so that way the logic says:
Check if this condition is true, otherwise (else), do this
A simple indent should fix your problem.
import random
happy = "no"
while happy == "no":
    stat = random.randint(1,50)
    print (stat)
    happy = input("Are you happy with this?" )
    if happy == "yes":
        print("Okay moving on. ")
        break
    else:
        print("Please enter a valid answer. ")

A: My friend fixed the code by changing my While Loop. He changed "while happy == "no" to "while True". And he explained that the reason it didn't work before was because the "else" statement was still changing the "happy" variable, because I asked the user to input a string for it in the previous "if" statement.

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Union gave qualified backing for replacement curriculum draft.
The Anoka-Hennepin teachers' union has given a qualified blessing to the district's proposed replacement for its controversial Sexual Orientation Curriculum Policy.
On Monday afternoon, members of the union's governing body, representing all of the district's 65 sites, voted to endorse the Respectful Learning Environment Curriculum Policy. The policy is set to go to a school board vote Feb. 13.
"People said this seems to reflect what we know works for our students," said union president Julie Blaha. "We do appreciate that the board took our suggestions seriously and we see a lot of them in here."
The draft is the second to go before the board in recent months. The Controversial Topics Curriculum Policy, introduced in December, was scrapped last month amid widespread opposition.
The newest draft codifies an expectation that educators do not attempt to persuade students to adopt or reject a certain stance on political, religious, social or economic issues. It would replace one that requires staff to remain neutral on issues of sexual orientation. Teachers have said the current rule, commonly called the neutrality policy, left many unclear how they should interact with gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students. It also is at the center of a lawsuit filed against the district last summer on behalf of six current and former students who said the district did not adequately respond to their reports of persistent bullying based on their actual or perceived sexual orientation.
Blaha noted that union representatives at Monday's meeting agreed to suggest several changes in the wording of the policy. They suggested, for example, that administrators should be added to the list of those subject to the rule. Blaha said the group might still endorse the policy if the school board does not adopt the changes, though it would want to know the reasoning. There was a significant number of representatives who maintain no policy is needed, though there is support for scrapping the neutrality policy.
School board President Tom Heidemann called the vote "a step in the right direction. ... Always, what we've been trying to do is to address the confusion that people have stated exists with the current policy. ... It is a good step forward to have everyone together as we move forward."
Also Monday, the district reacted to a critical article published Friday in Rolling Stone magazine. The article, called "One Town's War on Gay Teens," detailed the experiences of Brittany Geldert, a plaintiff in the lawsuit against the district, and Justin Aaberg, an Anoka High School freshman who committed suicide in 2010. His family learned after his death that he had been relentlessly bullied because he was gay. The district called the article "a grossly distorted portrayal of the Anoka-Hennepin School District, its schools and its communities."