The Chinese mainland on Wednesday conveyed a wait-and-see attitude towards Tsai Ing-wen taking charge of the General Association of Chinese Culture (GACC).

The GACC was founded in 1967 to promote the restoration of Chinese culture, enhance cultural communication and cooperation, and promote the cultural industry. The association has always been headed by either an incumbent Taiwan leader or someone approved by the Taiwan leader.

An Fengshan, spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, was responding to reports that Tsai Ing-wen will take the reins as GACC’s president next month and rename the association by removing the word “Chinese.”

“We have noticed relevant reports, and the future of GACC is to carry forward Chinese culture or to rid the organization of ‘Chinese’ links, cross-Strait compatriots will wait and see what happens,” said An.

Earlier in January, the executive committee of GACC blocked Tsai Ing-wen’s election as the president of the association, but the re-elected executive committee will vote in a new head next week - and Tsai is widely expected to become the association’s president as a result.

When Taiwan’s former leader Chen Shui-bian was in power from the year of 2000 to 2008, "Chinese" was removed from the name of the association, but the word was restored after Liu Chao-shiuan became the president of the association in 2010 with the approval of Taiwan’s former leader Ma Ying-jeou.

Wu Sheng, Taiwan’s poet and senior “presidential adviser”, said: “When Tsai assumes the association’s presidency, she should begin by giving it an appropriate name.”

“If it is not going to be named the General Association of Taiwanese Culture, we can at least settle for the General ‍Association of National Culture...(to)...reflect the nation’s multicultural past."