Taiwan defies China to re-elect ruling party for unprecedented third term

Taiwanese voters have swept presidential candidate Lai Ching-te into power, defying China’s warnings not to vote for him in an election Beijing framed as a choice between war and peace.

Lai currently serves as vice president of the country’s governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which champions Taiwan’s separate identity and rejects China’s territorial claims.

His victory has brought the DPP an unprecedented third term, which has never been seen under Taiwan’s current electoral system.

At stake is the peace and stability of the island, 100 miles off the coast of China, that Beijing claims as its own and to be retaken by force if necessary.

China framed the poll as a choice between war and peace, and denounced Lai as a dangerous separatist in the run-up to the election.

Any moves towards Taiwan makes towards formal independence would be considered a declaration of war, Beijing warned.

Mr Lai and incumbent President Tsai Ing-wen both reject China’s sovereignty claims over Taiwan, a former Japanese colony that split from the mainland amid civil war in 1949.

They have, however, offered to speak with Beijing, which has repeatedly refused to hold talks and called them separatists.

Apart from tensions with China, the election hinged on domestic issues, such as a slowed economy, housing affordability, a yawning gap between rich and poor and unemployment.

Beijing was believed to favour the candidate from the more China-friendly Nationalist party, also known as Kuomintang, or KMT.

Its candidate, Hou Yu-ih, had promised to restart talks with China while bolstering national defence. He promised not to move toward unifying the two sides of the Taiwan Strait if elected.

A third candidate, Ko Wen-je of the smaller Taiwan People’s Party, or TPP, had particularly drawn the support of young people wanting an alternative to the KMT and DPP, Taiwan’s traditional opposing parties, which have largely taken turns governing since the 1990s.

Mr Ko had also stated he wanted to speak with Beijing, and that his bottom line would be that Taiwan needs to remain democratic and free.

The US, which is bound by its laws to provide Taiwan with the weapons needed to defend itself, has pledged support for whichever government emerges, reinforced by the Biden administration’s plans to send an unofficial delegation made up of former senior officials to the island shortly after the election.

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