Taiwan defies China, electing a new president Beijing labeled a separatist ‘troublemaker’
Voters in Taiwan elected Vice President Lai Ching-te as their next president on Saturday, defying warnings from Beijing not to support a candidate it has called a separatist and a “troublemaker.”
The election, which China had described as “a choice between war and peace,” could test recent efforts by Beijing and Washington to repair relations that in recent years have fallen to their lowest point in decades. The status of Taiwan, one of the strongest democracies in Asia, is among the most sensitive issues between the two superpowers, and focus will now turn to any potential show of force from Beijing in response.
China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has not ruled out the use of force against the island, while the U.S. is Taiwan’s most important international backer. The majority of Taiwan’s 23 million people are in favor of maintaining the status quo, neither formally declaring independence nor becoming part of China.
If my understanding is correct they elect the President and the legislative body separately. The President is from the DPP, more anti-China party, but the KMT, a more pro-China party, has the majority.
https://hongkongfp.com/2024/01/13/taiwan-election-2024-ruling-dpp-fails-to-retain-legislative-majority-after-winning-presidential-race/
I don't know much about Taiwan (let alone its politics), but from what little I think I do know, that doesn't sound like a good way to describe it. Unless I'm mistaken, the KMT is very much an enemy of the People's Republic of China (which is the opposite of the way most people would understand the phrase "pro-China") and is instead pro-restoring-Republic-of-China-rule-over-the-mainland. Am I wrong?
Once upon a time KMT fought the Communist roughly around WW2. However nowadays KMT's more interested in maintaining a relationship with China and rejects Taiwan independence vs DPP whose official position is that Taiwan is an independent and sovereign country.
Thanks, TIL. So, DPP wants to be independent and it sounds like KMT kinda wants to maintain the status quo? Are there any political parties that actually want to reunify, either by reconquering the mainland or by surrendering to the CCP?
And the TPP has stated they want to find a middle ground with China and got about 20% of the votes. Tallying up the votes that's 40% for independence and 60% for status quo or working with China. So a minority against working with China wins the presidential elections.
But their congress equivalent is now 60% of the parties that favor working with China.
This is western media bias. They're not reporting that in reality the majority of Taiwanese wants peace and status quo, not independence. So of course China will do nothing since they see this vote in their favor as the Yuan determines if there's a vote for independence, not the president. Western media however will 100% be beating the drums of war. Just watch