What next for Taiwan after Tsai Ing-wen’s emphatic victory?

LAST AUTUMN, as China prepared to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic, a slogan of President Xi Jinping’s was strung up all over Beijing: “Don’t forget the original intention. Stick to the mission.” The mission was about national revival. As the Chinese Communist Party sees it, that involves restoring Taiwan to its rightful place as an undisputed part of the motherland.

And now Taiwan, which went to the polls on January 11th, has just responded—with a huge raspberry. The president, Tsai Ing-wen of the China-wary Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), was re-elected to another four-year term. Ms Tsai, soft-spoken and scandal-free, won in a landslide against her populist, often brash opponent, Han Kuo-yu of the China-friendly Kuomintang (KMT). For good measure, the DPP bucked predictions and hung on to control of the Legislative Yuan, the country’s parliament.