South Korea's parliament votes to impeach President Park Geun-hye

Trump's phone call with Taiwan president risks China's anger

Donald Trump looked to have sparked a potentially damaging diplomatic row with China on Friday after speaking to Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen on the telephone in a move experts said would anger Beijing.

The call, first reported by the Taipei Times and confirmed by the Financial Times, is thought to be the first between the leader of the island and a US president or president-elect since ties between America and Taiwan were severed in 1979, at Beijing’s initiative.

The US closed its embassy in Taiwan – a democratically ruled island which Beijing considers a breakaway province – in the late 1970s following the historic rapprochement between Beijing and Washington that stemmed from Richard Nixon’s 1972 trip to China.

Since then the US has adhered to the so-called “one China” principle which officially considers the independently governed island part of the same single Chinese nation as the mainland.

What is Taiwan?

Taiwan ,officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a state in East Asia.^[12]Neighbors include the People's Republic of China (PRC, commonly known as "China") to the west, Japan to the northeast, and the Philippines to the south. While Taiwan was under Japanese rule, the Republic of China (ROC) was established on the mainland in 1912 after the fall of the Qing dynasty. Following the Japanese surrender to the Allies in 1945, the ROC took control of Taiwan. However, the resumption of the Chinese Civil War led to the ROC's loss of the mainland to the Communists, and the flight of the ROC government to Taiwan in 1949. Although the ROC continued to claim to be the legitimate government of "all of China" until 1991, its effective jurisdiction since 1949 has been limited to Taiwan and its surrounding islands, with the main island making up 99% of its de facto territory.

The PRC (People’s Republic of China) has consistently claimed sovereignty over Taiwan, and refused diplomatic relations with any country that recognizes the ROC.

Trump’s transition team said Tsai, who was elected Tawain’s first female president in January, had congratulated the billionaire tycoon on his recent victory. “During the discussion they noted the close economic, political, and security ties that exist between Taiwan and the United States,” a statement said. “President-elect Trump also congratulated President Tsai on becoming president of Taiwan earlier this year.”

Evan Medeiros, the Asia director at the White House national security council, told the Financial Times: “The Chinese leadership will see this as a highly provocative action, of historic proportions.

Trump’s reaction was in his twitter:

Interesting how the U.S. sells Taiwan billions of dollars of military equipment but I should not accept a congratulatory call.

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Questions:

1) What is the reason for South Korean President’s impeachment?

2) What is a chaebol?

3) What happens after impeachment?

4) Who are potential candidates for presidency?

5) What is the influence of this scandal on South Korean politics?

South Korea's parliament votes to impeach President Park Geun-hye

South Korean president Park Geun-hye is fighting for her political life after MPs voted to impeach her over a corrupton scandal connected with chaebols that has made her the country’s most unpopular leader since it became a democracy in the late 1980s.

A chaebol is a South Korean form of business conglomerate. They are typically global multinationals and own numerous international enterprises,^[1] controlled by a chairman with power over all the operations. Examples include Samsung, LG and Hyundai.

Friday’s vote in favour of impeachment is also being seen as a reflection of public anger over how South Korea, despite decades of economic development and freedoms that contrast dramatically with its neighbour North Korea, remains in the grip of a corrupt political and industrial elite.

What happens next?

Park’s executive powers have been immediately suspended and transferred to the prime minister, Hwang Kyo-ahn. But the vote doesn’t mean she will have to vacate the presidential Blue House immediately. If the constitutional court ratifies the vote, Park will formally resign and an election for a new South Korean president held within 60 days