New Taiwan opposition leader could ease China tension

Significance

He is Beijing's preferred candidate and appears to have a cordial relationship with President Xi Jinping. He takes the helm at a moment when relations with China are the tensest they have been in more than a decade.

Impacts

• Chu will stick to the '1992 Consensus' that there is only one China.
• Chu will take a more cautious approach to cross-Strait cooperation than Taiwan's last Kuomintang president, Ma Ying-jeou (2008-16).
• The task of making the Kuomintang a ruling party again will probably require a more charismatic leader than Chu.