Taiwan elects first DPP parliament speaker

TAIPEI — Taiwan’s parliament on Monday elected its firstever speaker from the China-skeptic Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) after the DPP triumphed in elections last month.

Su Chia-chuan immediately relinquished his party titles after his election, as a first step towards parliamentary reform.

“This was the first transition of power at parliament. People will have high expectations of the new parliament. If we let them down, we will betray their mandate,” Mr. Su told reporters.

The DPP won a crushing victory in parliamentary and presidential elections on Jan. 16.

Its chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen will on May 20 become the island’s first female president, after voters turned their backs on closer China ties under the Beijing-friendly Kuomintang (KMT) party.

The DPP also won 68 out of the 113 parliamentary seats while the KMT’s seats shrank from 64 to 35.

Mr. Su takes over as speaker from Wang Jin-pyng of the KMT, who held the post for 17 years.

One of the major tasks facing the new parliament is to pass a bill providing for oversight of agreements with China.

It has been on ice since the 2014 Sunflower movement, which saw the occupation of parliament for more than three weeks in protest at a planned cross-strait services trade pact.

The services pact is also on hold pending the passage of the oversight bill — a key demand of protesters fearful of secret deals with Beijing. —