New Taiwan President; PRC reactions; Real estate; New bull market in Shanghai?; EU trade threat
Summary of today’s top items:
Inauguration of Taiwan President Lai - As expected, President Lai signaled stability in policies towards the mainland, but the PRC government does not trust him and never will. There had been speculation that the PRC might take significant steps after the election and before his inauguration to express its displeasure with Lai, but that has not really happened. On Friday there was a brawl in the Legislative Yuan and given the DPP’s minority position in parliament Lai may have a very hard time pursuing his agenda, so it may make sense (I hope…) for Beijing to be restrained and try to the leverage the gridlock in the legislature, rather than take substantive actions in the near term directed at the Taiwan economy, like messing with the Cross-Strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA).
PRC reactions to Lai’s inauguration - The usual rhetoric from officials, including Wang Yi and Chen Binhua: “Separatist attempts for "Taiwan independence" are doome…