Taiwan's first Catholic vice president, Chen Chien-jen, joins Taiwan’s first female president to lead the country after winning a landslide victory at the polls on Saturday.
Chen, 64, who is known to be a devout Catholic, ran with Tsai Ing-Wen of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which secured 56 per cent of the vote, sweeping aside the pro-China Nationalist Party rival Eric Chu.
The DPP also won a large majority in the parliamentary elections held on the same day; the ruling party, Kuomintang, lost its majority for the first time since 1949.
The DPP are known for their pro-independence stance towards China, although Ms Tsai said in her victory speech that the relationship with the mainland would be based on “dignity and reciprocity”, according to the BBC.
In a country where less than 2 per cent of the population is Catholic – around 300,000 people – the election of a high-profile Catholic will be a welcome development for the Church, and one that will help the Holy See maintain its diplomatic influence in a country that has no embassies representing the powerful G8 countries - the US, China, Russia, the UK, Germany, France, Canada and Japan.
But concerns remain that Ms Tsai’s pro-independence party could strain the relationship with China. Michael Reilly, a former British diplomat and Director of the British Trade and Cultural Office in Taiwan said: “As long as restrictions remain on the Church in China, Taiwan will continue to be an important base for formation, training and preparation of priests and religious working on the mainland. So any deterioration in the current relative warmth between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait could also hamper the Church’s work in China.”
According to news agency Reuters, China’s Foreign Ministry said: "There is only one China in the world, the mainland and Taiwan both belong to one China and China's sovereignty and territorial integrity will not brook being broken up".
“The results of the Taiwan region election does not change this basic fact and the consensus of the international community," it added.
Vice President Chen, who was conferred a knight of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre and in 2013 of the order of St Gregory the Great for his contributions to the Catholic church, will govern with President Tsai Ing-Wen until the next election in 2020.
The outgoing President, Ma Ying-jeou, is also a baptised Catholic.
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