1) After being elected president of Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wen spoke to the press and pledged to work with the other political parties, and stressed unity going forward. Tsai also spoke about her China policy. She said she would build a sustainable cross-strait policy based on the constitution, the results of past interactions and the will of the people. She also stressed that both sides have a responsibility to maintain peace in the Taiwan Strait.
2) Kuomintang presidential candidate Eric Chu took responsibility for the party’s defeat in the elections. He called his defeat the biggest setback and stepped down as KMT chairman. He will continue on in his post as mayor of New Taipei City, which is the most populous city in Taiwan. Chu promised to engage in soul-searching, and assured the public that the KMT will do a good job of monitoring the DPP government in the future.
3) One of Taiwan’s last remaining comfort women passed away. Chen Tao was one of the Taiwanese women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military during WWII. She died Monday of pneumonia in the southern county of Pingtung. She was 94. Taiwan has been demanding an apology and compensation to its comfort women from Japan. The Japanese government recently reached an agreement with South Korea giving an official resolution to conflict over Korean comfort women, but it has not yet reached an agreement with Taiwan.
4) The Miami Marlins signed on Taiwanese pitcher Chen Wei-yin for five years. The contract makes Chen the highest paid Chinese-speaking athlete in professional sports. Chen is a left-handed pitcher who played for the Chinese Taipei National Team in the 2008 Olympics and for the Baltimore Orioles from 2012 to 2015. He will be Miami’s second ace, or second-best player, on their all-star line-up. Chen’s five-year contract is for US$80 million. His US$16 million annual salary is higher than those of both the NBA’s Yao Ming and Jeremy Lin.