IT HAD been widely predicted, yet the landslide victory for Tsai Ing-wen in Taiwan’s presidential race on January 16th, along with the emphatic performance of her Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the legislative election, is nevertheless remarkable (see article). The vibrancy of the campaigning; the engagement of young voters; a smooth expected transfer of power; Asia’s first female leader not to come from a political dynasty: there is much to celebrate. A dictatorship has budded amazingly into a mature democracy, a country with stable institutions and impressive prosperity, ranking 33rd in the world by income per person, richer than Portugal or Greece.

Rightly, neighbours have been quick to congratulate Ms Tsai. All, that is, except powerful China, which deems Taiwan to be a renegade province that must return to the motherland, and if necessary be forced to. For all that Taiwanese resent being dictated to, and Ms Tsai’s own party leans towards formal independence, the new president must accept that history constrains Taiwanese aspirations, and her options. Not to do so would jeopardise Taiwan’s future—and the region’s peace.

The Taiwanese, for the most part, voted for Ms Tsai not on the “one-China question” but to improve living standards at home, as voters in mature democracies tend to. A donnish expert on trade law, Ms Tsai picked up a party in tatters in 2008 after its first, disastrous, presidency. Since then the DPP, founded by human-rights activists persecuted during the thuggish days of the Nationalist or Kuomintang (KMT) dictatorship, has shown growing competence in local government. Competence, not political ideology, is how it smashed the KMT’s unbroken lock on the legislature. The KMT’s once-mighty machine, built on cash and cronyism, has hit the buffers; it faces a Herculean task to reinvent itself along more modern lines.

In graphics: All change in Taiwanese politics China’s Communist Party, much happier to deal with its old KMT foe than with the DPP, is displeased. But at least it is not fulminating (see Banyan). Ms Tsai should swiftly demonstrate to President Xi Jinping that her priority is not to seek to upset the balance across the strait but to take on domestic concerns: build more affordable housing, fix the crisis in the pensions system and raise the minimum wage. She should do more to liberalise the economy and remove obstacles to the creation of new businesses. Yet she cannot ignore relations with the mainland altogether. Indeed they may yet come to define her presidency. Not least, China is Taiwan’s biggest trading partner. Ms Tsai has promised transparency in trade and investment deals with China. The KMT’s secrecy sparked protests two years ago that greatly undermined Ma Ying-jeou, the outgoing president. His successor must find ways to explain to autocrats, who themselves rule opaquely, why more scrutiny of agreements will lead to their greater acceptance in Taiwan. And when it comes to her promise to seek membership of the American-led free-trade area, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, she should urge China to join the club in tandem, as the two countries did when they entered the World Trade Organisation in 2002.

Swallow your pride, Ms Tsai

Sooner or later China will press Ms Tsai to affirm the formula that has guided cross-strait relations: that there is but “one China”, even if both sides disagree as to quite what that means. This will be hard for her, given that such a fudge does not reflect the changing view of compatriots increasingly inclined to think of themselves as Taiwanese, not Chinese. Yet she must continue the reconciliation across the strait that began under Mr Ma. Even before her inauguration in May, she should offer to meet Mr Xi for a meeting of no preconditions. Throughout, her watchword should be patience. Real, de jure sovereignty for Taiwan can probably come only if a thuggish China, today persecuting rights activists, evolves into a more liberal state. Impossible? Taiwan has done it.