63-years-old Tsai Ing-wen, the current and first female President of Taiwan has been re-elected for a second four-year term of presidency. A representative of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), took the oath on May 20, 2020.
- It should be noted that, under her presidency, Taiwan has tackled the COVID-19 pandemic successfully as the nation has confirmed just 440 cases and 7 deaths. It has recorded no new cases since May 7, 2020 and has not seen a locally transmitted case since April 12, 2020.
- It also provided proactive assistance to other countries suffering COVID-19 outbreaks.
Congratulatory Video Messages from 2 Indian BJP MPs; virtual ceremony attended by Sohang Sen
As overseas guests were not invited due to COVID-19 crisis, there are video messages of 92 foreign dignitaries from 41 countries that were played on the oath taking ceremony. Among them, there were messages from two Members of Parliament (MPs) from India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) viz.
- Meenakshi Lekhi: Constituency- New Delhi (NCT of Delhi)
- Rahul Kaswan: Constituency- Churu (Rajasthan)
- Both MPs praised Taiwan as “a democratic country”.
Apart from video recordings, there was also a virtual ceremony which was attended by Sohang Sen, the acting director general of the India Taipei Association from India.
- Importantly, India does not have a formal mission in Taipei as it is among 179 of the 194 member states of the United Nations (UN) that do not maintain diplomatic ties.
Taiwan-China Relations:
Since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949, Taiwan has been entirely self-ruled. However, China claims Taiwan as its province and has campaigned to limit Taiwan’s participation in international bodies under the “One China Principle”, the Republic of China (ROC)
- Recently, the United States (US) has pushed for Taiwan’s inclusion as an observer to the World Health Assembly (WHA), the decision-making body of the World Health Organisation (WHO), which has faced questions over its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. But Taiwan dropped its bid to participate as an observer at the WHA due to opposition from Beijing and other China-friendly members. Taiwan was a WHA observer until 2016.
About Taiwan:
Capital– Taipei
Currency– New Taiwan dollar
About China
Capital– Beijing
Currency– Renminbi
President– Xi Jinping
