The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is tipped for victory in Taiwan’s presidential election in January 2016. If successful, DPP candidate Tsai Ing-wen would not only become the first female president of the country, but her victory would also strip the Kuomintang (KMT) party – known to be more mainland China-friendly – of its rule.
If outside Taiwan’s borders this election is often seen as a make or break point in cross-strait political and commercial relations, local market participants remain calm. They trust that neither side of the strait is interested in a flare-up. Besides, such political turnover is not new to Taiwan; the country remained stable after DPP’s Chen Shui-bian’s presidential win in
2000 ended more than 50 years of uninterrupted KMT rule.
