What happened after Saturday’s KMT victories? In Beijing, they say, Xi’s heart grew three sizes that day.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/11/27
By: Stellina Chen

Count Chinese President Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) among those pleased with Saturday’s election results in Taiwan, which saw the reunification-favoring Kuomintang (KMT) win races in Kaohsiung, Taichung, and New Taipei City, among others, at the expense of the faltering Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

Under President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), the DPP, which favors eventual Taiwanese independence, has wielded sharp rhetoric to differentiate itself from China, whose ruling party aspires to overtake Taiwan despite never ruling over the sovereign island of over 23 million people. However, the DPP agenda suffered a devastating blow on Saturday as voters rejected its failures to follow through on progressive promises made during its 2014 electoral rout and its decisive victory in the 2016 presidential election.

China reacted to the news with glee. After seemingly lifting a media embargo as news of KMT victories in Kaohsiung and Taichung hit the presses, the state-run tabloid Global Times reported on the DPP’s “major defeats” late Saturday evening. Its editor, the ever-notorious Twitter personality Hu Xijin, wasted no time chiming in himself:    [FULL  STORY]