Taiwan's re-elected President Ying Jeou unlikely to move to reunify with China

Taipei, Jan 16 (ANI): Despite Ma Ying Jeou's re-election as President of Taiwan, there is little sign that he has any intention of moving toward, or has any public backing for, a political settlement with China on Taiwan's status, it has been claimed.

Ying Jeou was recently re-elected to a second term, capturing over 50 percent of the vote, a victory, which according to many reaffirmed his policy of establishing closer ties with Beijing.

According to The Washington Post, Ying Jeou is in no hurry for China political talks, and is giving more importance to the nation's economy.

Soon after winning a second four-year term, Ying Jeou said that there is no clear timetable for beginning any political talks with the authoritarian mainland, the world's second-biggest economy.

"With mainland relations, we will work on the economy first and politics later, work on the easier tasks first and the more difficult ones later. There is no rush to open up political dialogue. It's not a looming issue," he said.

According to the paper, Ying Jeou is not even having a public backing for reunification. In a 2011 poll, just 1.4 percent of respondents said that they wanted swift unification, and 60 percent favored keeping the status quo indefinitely or until some undecided future date.

Only 8.7 percent said they preferred the status quo with eventual unification, compared with 23 percent who want either immediate independence or the status quo with moves toward independence, the paper said.

Meanwhile, China's state media in its first reaction to Ying Jeou's victory,'s took a positive tone, reflecting Beijing's view that he was a far better choice than challenger Tsai Ing-wen, whose party maintains its theoretical support for an independent Taiwan.

"The results of the elections have indicated that the peaceful development of the cross-strait relations is a correct path and has been widely recognized by the Taiwan people," Xinhua said. (ANI)