China's Taiwan tangle

More doubts on 'one-country-two systems' principle

The landslide re-election of pro-independence Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen raises a fresh challenge for China’s “one-country-two systems” principle on its south-east and southern peripheries. Taiwan’s election results are significant because they come soon after Beijing’s unsuccessful efforts to quell pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, which resulted in a resounding defeat for pro-Chinese candidates in local elections there. Ms Tsai, who came to power in 2016, had explicitly rejected the ambiguous 1992 consensus between the Kuomintang, then the ruling party, and China, binding the two more closely on the “One Country-Two Systems” principle, including multiple trade and economic cooperation agreements. Even