S’pore congratulates Taiwan’s President-elect Lai Ching-te on his victory
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Mr Lai Ching-te won 40 per cent of the votes in a three-way race for president.
ST PHOTO: CHONG JUN LIANG
Follow topic:
SINGAPORE - Singapore has congratulated Taiwan’s President-elect Lai Ching-te
“Singapore shares a close and longstanding friendship with Taiwan and the Taiwanese people, and will continue to grow this relationship based on our ‘One China’ policy,” said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) in a Jan 14 statement.
MFA said Singapore has consistently supported the peaceful development of cross-strait relations.
“Dialogue, building trust, and pursuing cooperation will be beneficial for both sides of the strait.
“This will contribute to the stability and prosperity of the wider region and be welcomed by Singapore and the international community,” it added.
Mr Lai won 40 per cent of the votes in a three-way race for president.
His opponents were Mr Hou Yu-ih from the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT), who gained around 33 per cent, and Dr Ko Wen-je from the smaller Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), who got about 26 per cent. Voter turnout was nearly 70 per cent.
Mr Lai’s win means that the DPP has secured an unprecedented third presidential term.
No political party has won more than two consecutive four-year terms since presidential elections were introduced in 1996.
However, the DPP failed to maintain its legislative majority in the parliamentary elections held at the same time, which will limit the President-elect’s ability to pass major reforms.
In fact, none of the main parties secured a majority in the 113-seat legislature.
The KMT took 52 seats, the DPP 51, and the TPP eight, while two seats went to independents.
