Taiwan Recent History
In order to increase their chances in the upcoming elections, the GMD made a generation change in the leadership position in July 2005 and elected Ma Ying-jeou (Ma Yingjiu; * 1950) , who was mayor of Taipei from 1998-2006, as party chairman. In 2007 he had to hand over the leadership of the party to Wu Po-hsiung (Wu Boxiong; (* 1939) due to suspected financial irregularities in his office as mayor). In the same year, Chang Chun-hsiung replaced Su Tseng-chang as head of government away.
In the elections for the Legislative Yuan on January 12, 2008, the GMD won 81 of the 113 seats (two-thirds majority) and thus created a good starting position for the subsequent presidential campaign. The DPP only got 27 seats. As expected, GMD politician Ma Ying-jeou won the presidential elections on March 22, 2008 (58.5% of the vote). Two referendums held at the same time (Taiwan’s application for a UN seat as the Republic of China or under the name of Taiwan) remained below the required participation of 50%. Ma Ying-jeou (who took office as President of Taiwan on May 20, 2008) advocated closer relations with the People’s Republic of China. Liu Chao-shiuan (Liu Zhaoxuan, * 1943) became Prime Minister. In April 2008, the Taiwanese vice president traveled to Beijing and met with China’s President Hu Jintao together. This was the highest-ranking meeting since the People’s Republic was proclaimed in 1949. Both sides agreed, in line with the “one-China principle” that Beijing had raised as a dogma, that “Taiwan is a province of China”, with both governments sticking to their fundamental position to be the only legitimate representation of China. Taiwan took part in the Olympic Games in Beijing under the name “Chinese Taipei”. The global financial crisis led to a massive drop in exports of around 40% at the end of 2008 / beginning of 2009. Although the economy recovered in the third quarter of 2009, real GDP contracted by around 4% for the year as a whole. The unemployment rate of 6.3% at the end of 2009 was the highest in the country’s history. In order to stimulate the economy again, the government passed an economic stimulus program. 2009 took over Ma Ying-jeou resumed the chairmanship of the GMD, the leadership of the cabinet passed from Liu Chao-shiuan to Wu Den-yih (Wu Dunyi, * 1948) after the government drew criticism after a typhoon for inadequate rescue measures. In 2010 a comprehensive economic agreement was concluded with the People’s Republic of China. Former President Chen Shui-bian was sentenced to a long prison term by the Supreme Court in 2010 in connection with a bribe affair. A district court sentenced him to life imprisonment in 2009.
In the presidential elections on January 14, 2012, the population confirmed Ma Ying-yeou with 51.6% of the votes. The GMD suffered a loss of votes in the parliamentary elections that took place at the same time and lost 17 of its 81 seats. The DPP won 40 of the 113 seats. In February 2012, Sean Chen (Chen Chong, * 1948) replaced Wu Den-yih in the office of Prime Minister. The weak economic development triggered criticism of government policy in 2012. On February 1, 2013, Chen announced his resignation. The previous Deputy Prime Minister Jiang Yi-huah (Jiang Yihua, * 1960) was appointed as his successor.
According to usprivateschoolsfinder, there was a rapprochement with the People’s Republic of China in February 2014 when talks at ministerial level were held for the first time in 65 years in Nanjing, east China. In protest against the planned ratification of a free trade agreement with the People’s Republic in the service sector, demonstrators of the student »Sunflower Movement« occupied parliament in March 2014. At the same time there were mass demonstrations. The protesters protested against Taiwan’s growing economic dependency from the agreement. After the government made concessions, the occupiers cleared parliament in April 2014. Despite these incidents, talks again took place in Taiwan in June 2014 at ministerial level with the aim of improving cooperation with the People’s Republic of China.Jiang Yi-huah resigned. Ma Ying-yeou resigned from the GMD chairmanship. Mao Chi-kuo (Mao Zhiguo, * 1948) became the new head of government on December 8, 2014. The GMD politician was Jiang Yi-huah’s deputy until then. In January 2015, the GMD members elected Eric Chu (* 1961) , the mayor of New Taipei, to succeed Ma Ying-yeou at the helm of the GMD.
For the first time since the end of the civil war, the two heads of state of China and Taiwan met on November 7, 2015. Ma Ying-yeou and Chinese President Xi Jinping held direct talks on neutral ground in Singapore. The protocol had previously stipulated that the two politicians would not use their official titles to address them. In the run-up to the meeting, opponents of the rapprochement policy tried to storm the parliament in Taipei. Parliamentary and presidential elections were held on January 16, 2016. The presidential elections were won by Tsai Ing-wen (Cai Yingwen), the candidate of the DPP critical of Beijing, who received 56.1% of the vote. This is the first time that the population has elected a woman to the highest office in the state.Eric Chu (* 1961) , chairman of the ruling GMD, only got 31% of the vote. The DPP also won an absolute majority in the Legislative Yuan with 68 out of 113 seats. The GMD only had 35 seats. The New Power Party (NPP), which emerged from the “Sunflower Movement” and had participated in parliamentary elections for the first time, won 5 seats. After the elections, Eric Chu announced his resignation as GMD chairman. Tsai Ing-wen was sworn in on May 20, 2016 in the presidency. In the presidential election on January 11, 2020, Tsai Ing-wen was confirmed in office with 57.1% of the votes. On the same day the election of the Legislative Yuan took place.
