TAIPEI (AFP) — Taiwan's pro-China opposition were savouring their landslide election win on Sunday, hoping the momentum will carry over to presidential polls in March and lead to closer ties with the mainland.
The Kuomintang (KMT) party, who insist that better relations with China will help the island's stuttering economy, crushed the ruling party of President Chen Shui-bian, whose hardline stance on Beijing appeared to turn off voters.
Chen stepped down as head of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) on Saturday after the drubbing at the polls but wasted no time Sunday lashing out at China, which considers Taiwan part of its territory.
"China shows no signs that it will ease its military threats, diplomatic suppression and two-handed economic strategy on Taiwan," Chen said before heading on a week-long mission to shore up ties with Guatemala and St Lucia.
"China is intensifying its 'dollar diplomacy' attacks on Taiwan and using all means possible to take away our allies. We cannot sit back passively... we have to step out for the international community to see Taiwan."
The KMT and its allies captured 86 seats in the 113-member parliament, compared to just 27 for Chen's DPP, setting the stage for the party's presidential front-runner Ma Ying-jeou to succeed Chen in March.
After Saturday's landmark win, Ma pledged to "push for a peace accord" with Beijing if elected.
China and Taiwan split at the end of a bloody civil war in 1949 between Chiang Kai-shek's nationalists and Mao Zedong's communists.
"It is clear that people are yearning for change after eight years of suffering," Ma said.
Ma, a former mayor of Taipei, has pledged to allow mainland tourists to visit Taiwan, and hopes to reinstate direct transportation, commerce and postal links that were cut off six decades ago.
A win in both the legislative and the presidential polls for the KMT could end years of political gridlock in Taiwan, one of the world's top 20 economies.
KMT party leaders including Ma travelled to northern Toliao on Sunday to honour Chiang Ching-kuo, the son of Chiang Kai-shek, who served as Taiwan's president from 1978 until his death 20 years ago, on January 13, 1988.
Chen meanwhile headed to Latin America, one of the main battlegrounds for Taiwan and China, which regularly accuse each other of luring allies away with "chequebook diplomacy".
Guatemala and St Lucia are two of 24 countries that recognise Taipei rather than Beijing.
The timing of his departure early Sunday led some to charge that he is trying to avoid the fallout from his party's crushing defeat at the polls -- a loss Chen described as the "worst setback" in the party's history.
The DPP was to meet Monday to choose a new leader, with its presidential candidate Frank Hsieh likely to assume the chairmanship as he tries to reverse the party's fortunes ahead of the March 22 presidential polls.
Analysts said that in addition to Chen's uncompromising attitude on Beijing, analysts said, the DPP also suffered at the polls from a series of graft scandals that touched the president's inner circle.
Chen's wife Wu Shu-chen was indicted last year on corruption and forgery charges, his son-in-law Chao Chien-ming was convicted of insider trading and his Vice President Annette Lu has been indicted for graft.
Chen was also named a suspect but escaped immediate prosecution because of presidential immunity.
"The people cast a no-confidence vote on Chen's eight years in office," Hong Kong-based political commentator Cao Jingxing told AFP.
"The DPP has to clean up the mess -- it will probably distance itself from Chen to save the party."
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