Opinion | Taiwan’s young voters have spoken – the KMT must update its vision of relations with China

Barely a year after her party’s crushing defeat in Taiwan’s local elections, President Tsai Ing-wen not only survived a cigarette smuggling scandal and accusations of a campaign of spreading disinformation, she rose like a phoenix from the ashes with a landslide victory in last week’s presidential election.

Many think Tsai has Chinese President Xi Jinping to thank for this reversal of fortune. His overtures to Taiwan advocating “one country, two systems” for the island allowed Tsai to reinvent herself as the “Taiwanese Spice Sister” by rejecting the framework outright.

But have the Kuomintang and Chinese government heard them? China’s one country, two systems model has suffered two major setbacks in the past two months, first in Hong Kong’s district council elections, then in the Taiwanese presidential and general elections. While the nature of these elections differ materially, they reveal how young voters are shaping the politics of both societies.

The KMT’s fall from grace again was fast and furious. Only a year ago, Han Kuo-yu, the future KMT presidential candidate, scored an upset victory in the mayoral race in Kaohsiung, traditionally a Democratic Progress Party stronghold. He created such a following among non-partisan and young voters that it helped the KMT clinch 15 mayoral seats in total.