Taiwan’s vice president, whose party has emphasized the island’s sovereignty, defeated an opposition party that favors reviving engagement with China.

cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/11011730

[Submitted link is an NYT gifted link,](In a Setback for Beijing, Taiwan Elects Lai Ching-te as President) so should be a free to all to read.

Taiwan’s vice president, Lai Ching-te, who has faced sustained hostility from China, won the island democracy’s presidential election on Saturday, a result that could prompt Beijing to step up pressure on Taiwan, deepening tensions with Washington.

For many of the millions of Taiwanese citizens who lined up at ballot booths on Saturday, the vote centered on the question of who should lead Taiwan in an increasingly tense standoff with its much larger, autocratic and heavily armed neighbor, China.

  • JCPhoenix@beehaw.orgOPEnglish
    2·
    1 year ago

    PRC is Taiwan’s largest trading partner (2022 data). And According to this Reuter’s article from a few days ago, China is also Taiwan’s number one destination for investment. So I suppose it’s not surprising that the ruling class has connections to Chinese money and industry.

    I guess in some ways, this is similar to the US and China as trading partners, even though they’re geopolitical rivals. Obviously Taiwan has a lot more to fear than the US does if things go south, but I wonder how much Taiwan-PRC economic ties play a role in preventing an outbreak of hostilities.

    Though people said the same thing of Russia, especially after 2014 and look how that turned out. Of course, China isn’t Russia. So maybe it does help.