People First Party (PFP) leader James Soong's (
But the ex-official, former deputy assistant secretary of state in charge of Taiwan and China issues, Randall Schriver, said that other than that, the overall impact of the elections on bilateral relations would be "minimal."
Meanwhile, the State Department had little to say about the elections.
"We congratulate the people of Taiwan for participating in democracy," one department official said. "[But] we do not comment on internal Taiwan affairs."
Schriver made his comments at a seminar at the Heritage Foundation on the results of the Taipei and Kaohsiung elections.
Soong and the PFP have long been opponents of the arms package, seeing the purchase as too costly and too provocative to China.
With Soong and the PFP weakened, he said, "to the extent that you believe that the KMT's [Chinese Nationalist Party] inability to get a consensus view among the blue camp behind either the supplemental [arms] budget or increases to the regular budget, and that Soong was somehow blackmailing them or playing politics with the arms package, I think he will be marginalized a bit more and this will give the KMT the ability to perhaps achieve a consensus behind the package."
"[This] would be a tremendous boost to US-Taiwan relations from Washington's perspective," Shriver said.
Overall, he said that the election results would not have much of an impact on bilateral relations.
"This is a vote for the status quo and stability," he said.
If the KMT had won both elections, he said, that could have hurt relations with Washington.
The victories would require changes in the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) leadership and "require Chen to do something to respond to the pressure," whether to take a leave of absence, or delegate more power to the premier.
"The management of our bilateral business would have been a little more difficult if our primary interlocutor in the executive branch was under so much turmoil," Schriver said.
"The US cares about a manageable cross-strait environment, not marked by radical moves or surprises," Schriver said.
"If the DPP had suffered deep losses, it might have prompted a more aggressive agenda, a more robust independence-minded agenda, if the DPP were to feel more desperate, or feel more confident," Schriver said.
US-Taiwan relations would benefit as a result of the fact that the elections were successful, boosting Taiwan's democracy, he said.
"The quality of US-Taiwan relations is predicated on a strong democracy in Taiwan," he said.
TENSIONS: The Chinese aircraft and vessels were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a joint air and sea military exercise, the Ministry of National Defense said A relatively large number of Chinese military aircraft and vessels were detected in Taiwan’s vicinity yesterday morning, apparently en route to a Chinese military exercise in the western Pacific, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. In a statement, the ministry said 36 Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, including J-16 fighters and nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait or an extension of it, and were detected in the southern and southeastern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) from 5:20am to 9:30am yesterday. They were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a
Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
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