Taiwan presidential election, ruling party candidate Lai Kiyotoku wins

Ruling party candidate Lai Ching-de won Taiwan’s presidential election, but his rival conceded after thousands of polling stations voted in a close three-way race.

The results of Taiwan’s presidential and parliamentary elections will chart the trajectory of its relationship with China over the next four years. At stake is peace and stability in the 110-mile-wide maritime zone between mainland China and the autonomous islands it claims as its own. China has previously argued that the election is a choice between peace and war.

Asked by reporters about his reaction to the election as he left the White House on Saturday, President Biden said the United States does not support Taiwan’s independence.

“We do not support independence,” Biden said.

Mr Lai is deputy leader of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which governs the island.

Lai, also known as William Lai, and incumbent President Tsai Ing-wen reject China’s claims of sovereignty over Taiwan, a former Japanese colony that broke away from the mainland in 1949 amid a civil war. However, they have offered to dialogue with the Chinese government. has repeatedly refused talks and called them separatists. The Chinese government strongly opposes Lai’s selection.

“Every election in Taiwan is important because Beijing could react in a way that could lead to further destabilization of the region.” Michael Cole, a Taipei-based political analyst, told CBS News. Ahead of the election.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken congratulated Lai on his election victory, saying, “The Taiwanese people once again demonstrated the strength of our strong democratic system and electoral process.”

“The United States is committed to maintaining cross-Strait peace and stability and to peacefully resolving differences, without coercion or pressure. The American people and the Taiwanese people are rooted in democratic values. Our partnership with the United States continues to expand and deepen “across economic, cultural, and people-to-people ties,” Blinken said.

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson congratulated Lai in a statement released Saturday morning. Mr. Johnson met with Alexander Yui, Taiwan’s ambassador to the United States, and expressed his support for regional security and democracy.

Mr Johnson added that he would ask the chair of the House of Commons related committees to lead a delegation to Taipei after Mr Lai takes office in May.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Mr. X on Saturday to congratulate him.

The Chinese government is believed to have supported candidates from the more pro-China Kuomintang (also known as Kuomintang) party. Its candidate, Hou Yuxi, also promised to resume talks with China while strengthening national defense. He pledged that if elected, he would not move toward unification on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

Another strong candidate is Ke Wen-ji of the small Taiwan People’s Party, or TPP. The former mayor of Taipei had attracted support from young people seeking an alternative to the traditional political parties that had largely taken turns in government since the 1990s.

For Tony Chen, a 74-year-old retiree who voted in Taipei an hour before polls closed, the election boiled down to a choice between communism and democracy.

“I hope democracy wins,” he said. He said that decades ago, when China’s economy was growing by double digits annually, more Taiwanese were more tolerant of China’s governance model, but that the civil war that has occurred under current Chinese President Xi Jinping has changed. He added that he opposes the suppression of freedom.

Stacey Chen, 43, said she has always voted for the Democratic Progressive Party because “Taiwan is an independent country.” She wants her son to grow up in a country away from China, she said.

CBS News stringer Joanne Kuo said she fears a Chinese takeover of Taiwan and cannot survive under Chinese Communist Party rule.

“I don’t see how that fits with the Taiwanese people’s values ​​of democracy and freedom,” Kuo said after voting.

”Hong Kong’s experience in recent years That’s definitely something that Taiwanese people don’t want for themselves,” Cole of the Taipei International Republican Institute said before the election.

In addition to tensions with China, domestic issues such as a lack of affordable housing and stagnant wages have been central to the election campaign. Taiwan’s economy is estimated to have grown by just 1.4% last year. This partly reflects the inevitable cycle of demand for computer chips and other exports from its high-tech, trade-dependent manufacturing base and a slowdown in China’s economy.

For Ben Wang, 44, the vote was focused on changing the balance of power between Taiwan’s main opposition parties, the Democratic Progressive Party and the Kuomintang. Taiwan cannot pre-empt a potential attack by China by any means, he said.

Gabriel Reid, associate director at global information consultancy S-RM, said Taiwan’s election is expected to have a “real and lasting impact on the geopolitical landscape.”

“The outcome of the vote will ultimately determine the nature of China’s relationship with the West and will have a major impact on the situation in the South China Sea,” he said.