Now elected, she will have four months before she is officially inaugurated as the next President of Taiwan to convince Beijing that she has no intention to legally move Taiwan towards independence from China. Thus far, she has not responded to calls that clearly state her position on the One-China Principle. While this could be part of her election campaign strategy, it may be untenable for her to remain ambiguous on where she and her party stand on this sensitive issue.

After May, Beijing’s unease may quickly escalate if Tsai and her followers start an internal unity campaign as she had promised. According to her, the goal of such a campaign will be to brush the differences between the pro-independence and the anti-independence camps in Taiwan. Tsai has promised that her pursuit of unity will focus on multi-cultural identities with due respect to all Taiwanese.

For Tsai, such a unity campaign presumably renders greater recognition of Chinese migrants who fled to Taiwan after the defeat of the Kuomintang by the Communists in the Chinese Civil War in 1949. These migrants – known as waishenren in Taiwan – have largely lost their political clout. Tsai’s campaign could therefore, symbolize a policy of inclusion, so as to sooth those whose political stance is estranged from the Taiwan independence movement. Such estrangement reflects the wish for a better-integrated social, economic and cultural relationship with China.

Read more: http://www.indrastra.com/2016/01/OPINION-Can-Tsai-ing-wen-Leverage-SCS-to-bypass-One-China-Principle-002-01-2015-0060.html