DPP’s defeat stirs Beijing’s hopes for ties

China, which considers self-governing Taiwan a breakaway province, offered no official comment after the opposition Nationalist Party won 81 of 113 seats in the legislature Saturday.

The official China News Service quoted a pro-government scholar as saying the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s defeat would stymie what China sees as Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian’s campaign for formal independence.

Quoting scholars in state media allows authorities to register the government’s views without entering them into the official record.

“Speaking in the long run, this is beneficial to the development of cross-strait relations,” CNS quoted Wang Jianmin of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences as saying.

Short of its goal of bringing Taiwan under its control, Beijing is seeking to lift the island’s restrictions on transport links and investment and wants the island opened up to tourists from the mainland.

Official newspapers including the Communist Party mouthpiece, the People’s Daily, carried slim reports on the election, along with the defeat of two referendums targeting corruption and Chen’s resignation as DPP chairman.

China’s Foreign Ministry referred questions to the government’s Taiwan Affairs Office, where telephones were not answered Sunday.

In recent years, Beijing has maintained an unspoken policy of not directly commenting on Taiwan’s political process for fear of turning Taiwanese voters away from candidates that favor stronger ties with the mainland.

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