TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Han Kuo-yu of Taiwan’s pro-unification Nationalists was elected speaker of the island’s legislature on Thursday, a sort of consolation prize for China, which claims the self-governing democracy as its own territory.
The Nationalists, also known as the Kuomintang or KMT, won 52 of the legislature's 113 seats in a Jan. 13 election. The Democratic Progressive Party won 51, a decline from the 63 seats it held in the last legislature. The remainder went to two independents and the recently formed Taiwan People’s Party.
Han secured the speaker position without an absolute majority but won the support of the two independents for a total of 54 votes. The eight Taiwan People's Party legislators, all of whom hold at-large seats, abstained from voting in the second round.
Vice President Lai Ching-te was elected president on Jan. 13, giving the independence-leaning DPP a third consecutive four-year term in office. The Chinese government loathes Lai and has refused most contact with Taiwan's government since his predecessor, Tsai Ing-wen, won a first term in 2016.
But Beijing has been in regular contact with the Nationalists, who ruled Taiwan with an iron fist for nearly four decades after fleeing to the island in 1949 as the Communists swept to power in mainland China.
China threatens to attack Taiwan if it declares formal independence or delays too long in meeting demands for unification under Beijing's control. The overwhelming majority of Taiwanese favor maintaining the island's de-facto independent status despite China's attempts at military, diplomatic and economic coercion.
China has managed to reduce the number of Taiwan's formal diplomatic allies to just 12, mainly through the use of economic inducements, while upping its military threats. Taiwan's Defense Ministry said China sent 33 warplanes and six naval ships into waters and aerospace near the island. Among the warplanes, 14 cross the median line of the Taiwan Strait and entered Taiwan air defense identification zone, the ministry said.
Han, 66, is a somewhat controversial character seen by some as a right-wing populist. He lost to Tsai 57% to 38%, shortly after which he lost his job as mayor of the major southern port city of Kaohsiung in a recall election. However, he remains popular within the Nationalists, which put him on the top of its list of at-large candidates.
China had no direct comment on Han's election, although the spokesperson for the Cabinet's Taiwan Affairs Office, called on the U.S. — Taiwan's most important, though unofficial ally — to “refrain from sending wrong signals to Taiwan independence separatist forces.”
“Apart from being part of China, Taiwan has no other status under international law,” spokesperson Chen Binhua said at a Thursday news conference,