Global leaders have congratulated Lai Ching-te for winning Taiwan’s presidential election, praising the high turnout and democratic process – drawing ire from Beijing, which had hoped to see Taiwan’s ruling party ousted. Lai won an unprecedented third term in power for the pro-sovereignty Democratic Progressive party (DPP) in Saturday’s election, with more than 40% of the vote. Lai is taking over from the DPP’s Tsai Ing-wen, who has been president since 2016, promising to continue her foreign policy efforts in resisting China’s plans to annex Taiwan. The US, the UK,…
Tag: Taiwan
In Taiwan, Voters Choose President as China Tensions Loom
The Taiwanese politician Lai Ching-te has for years been reviled by China’s Communist Party as a dangerous foe who, by its account, could drag the two sides into a war by pressing for full independence for his island democracy. Right up to Saturday, when millions of Taiwanese voted for their next president, an official Beijing news outlet warned that Mr. Lai could take Taiwan “on a path of no return.” Yet, despite China’s months of menacing warnings of a “war or peace” choice for Taiwan’s voters, Mr. Lai was elected…
Taiwan elections: pro-sovereignty DPP party wins unprecedented third term – video
Taiwan has elected former vice president Lai Ching-te as the country’s new leader, delivering the sovereignty Democratic Progressive party an unprecedented third term. Lai served alongside former president Tsai Ing-wen from 2020. In his victory speech, Lai told a gathering of supporters: ‘We are telling the international community that between democracy and authoritarianism we will stand on the side of democracy’ The Guardian
China Failed to Sway Taiwan’s Election. What Happens Now?
China’s leader, Xi Jinping, has tied his country’s great power status to a singular promise: unifying the motherland with Taiwan, which the Chinese Communist Party sees as sacred, lost territory. A few weeks ago, Mr. Xi called this a “historical inevitability.” But Taiwan’s election on Saturday, handing the presidency to a party that promotes the island’s separate identity for the third time in a row, confirmed that this boisterous democracy has moved even further away from China and its dream of unification. After a campaign of festival-like rallies, where huge…
Taiwan elects Lai Ching-te, from incumbent pro-sovereignty party, as president
Taiwan has voted for Lai Ching-te to be its next president, ushering in a historic third term in power for the pro-sovereignty Democratic Progressive party (DPP), in a result that will anger Beijing and heighten tensions across the Taiwan strait. The victory of Lai, who since 2020 had served as vice-president to Tsai Ing-wen, marks the continuation of a government that promoted a sovereign Taiwan and a national identity separate to China, and oversaw some of the deepest cross-strait tensions in decades as Beijing pushed towards its goal of annexation.…
Vote counting starts in key Taiwan election amid threats from China
Vote counting got under way on Saturday in Taiwan’s presidential election, held under the shadow of threats from China that choosing a leader it disapproves of could set the stage for war on the self-ruled island. Beijing criticised frontrunner Lai Ching-te, the current vice-president, as a dangerous “separatist” in the days leading up to the poll and, on the eve of the vote, its defence ministry vowed to “crush” any Taiwanese independence attempts. Communist China claims democratic Taiwan, separated from the mainland by a 180-km (110-mile) strait, as its own…
Taiwan Goes to the Polls
Tomorrow is Election Day in Taiwan, where the selection of a new president will shape the island’s relationship with China — and, by extension, shape international affairs. Today’s newsletter offers a guide. We know that many readers have paid little if any attention to the campaign, but it’s been fascinating and has implications for the competition over global influence between the U.S. and China. Background The fate of Taiwan is one of the big unknowns of the 2020s. It is now a thriving democracy of around 23 million people, with…
U.S. Strikes in Yemen, and Taiwan’s High-Stakes Election
The New York Times Audio app is home to journalism and storytelling, and provides news, depth and serendipity. If you haven’t already, download it here — available to Times news subscribers on iOS — and sign up for our weekly newsletter. The Headlines brings you the biggest stories of the day from the Times journalists who are covering them, all in about five minutes. NYT
Taiwan Party, Reviled by China, Faces Test of its Staying Power
Nearly four decades ago, a group of lawyers, intellectuals and activists assembled in a hotel ballroom in Taipei to found an illegal political party dedicated to ending authoritarian rule in Taiwan. No longer a scrappy upstart, the Democratic Progressive Party, born in that ballroom, is now seeking an unprecedented third consecutive term. It needs to persuade voters that after eight years in power, the party can renew itself while also protecting Taiwan from mounting pressures imposed by Beijing, which claims the island as its territory. Led by Vice President Lai…
Taiwan Election: Why It Matters, and What It Could Mean for U.S. and China
Taiwan will choose a new president on Saturday, bringing new leadership to volatile relations with an increasingly belligerent Beijing. The outcome could raise or lower the risks of a crisis, giving China a potential transition point to revive engagement, or to increase the military threats that could ultimately draw the United States into a war. China’s leader, Xi Jinping, has asserted Beijing’s claim over the self-governed island of 23 million people by sending warplanes and ships to the skies and waters around Taiwan almost daily. Washington, while maintaining “strategic ambiguity”…