Taiwan President-elect Tsai Ing-wen's Victory Confirmed at Press Conference... Successful Re-election (Update)

On the 11th, President Tsai Ing-wen held a press conference after securing her re-election.

[Asia Economy Taipei (Taiwan) = Special Correspondent Sunmi Park] On the 11th, in Taiwan's 15th presidential election, incumbent Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate President Tsai Ing-wen secured re-election.

At 9 p.m. local time that evening, President Tsai stood on the stage in front of the campaign headquarters located on Beiping East Road in Taipei and shared her thoughts on winning with the gathered press and supporters.

As of 9:17 p.m., near the end of vote counting, President Tsai had received 8.1 million votes (57.2%). Kuomintang (KMT) candidate Han Kuo-yu, mayor of Kaohsiung, received 5.46 million votes (38.6%), and People First Party candidate James Soong received 600,000 votes (4.3%).

Earlier, Mayor Han took the stage in front of the Kaohsiung campaign headquarters and said, "I just congratulated President Tsai Ing-wen on her victory by phone," adding, "I accept the election results."

President Tsai was first elected as Taiwan's first female president in 2016 and has now succeeded in her re-election. She will continue to serve the four-year presidential term, leading Taiwan until 2024.

Amid rising cross-strait (China-Taiwan) tensions over the 'One China' principle emphasized by China, which escalated due to the Hong Kong protests, President Tsai's support has increased as she emphasized the protection of sovereignty.

During her term, President Tsai refused to acknowledge the pressure from China, which insisted that the One Country, Two Systems policy and the 1992 Consensus (an agreement to recognize 'One China' while using different names) must be upheld.

Moreover, as internal voices for Taiwan independence grew louder due to the Hong Kong situation, she openly distanced herself from China by putting 'Taiwan sovereignty protection' at the forefront. In her campaign, President Tsai emphasized, "We must choose democracy and freedom and continue to protect our sovereignty," which garnered strong support from younger voters.

From the start of the election, polls indicated that President Tsai's re-election was likely. In a poll conducted on the 27th and 28th of last month, President Tsai's approval rating was 54.9%, more than 30 percentage points higher than Mayor Han's 22.1%.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.