Taiwan ruling-party candidate Lai Ching-te emerges victorious in election

The new presisent Lai rejects China’s claims over Taiwan. Pic/AFP

Ruling-party candidate Lai Ching-te emerged victorious in Taiwan's presidential election on Saturday and his opponents conceded, a result that will chart the trajectory of the self-ruled democracy's relations with China over the next four years.

At stake is the peace and stability of the island, 160 km off the coast of China, that Beijing claims as its own and to be retaken by force if necessary. China had called the poll a choice between war and peace. Beijing strongly opposes Lai, the current vice president and a member of the governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

Lai and incumbent President Tsai Ing-wen 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.

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, also promised to restart talks with China while bolstering national defense. He promised not to move toward unifying the two sides of the Taiwan Strait if elected.

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

Beside the China tensions, domestic issues dominated the campaign, particularly an economy that was estimated to have grown just 1.4 per cent last year. But longer-term challenges such as unaffordable housing and wage stagnation topped voters' concerns.

1.4%
Growth of Taiwan's economy in the last year

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