Taiwan: The ruling party of Taiwan’s candidate for president, Mr. Lai Ching-te, has won an election that will determine the future of the island’s democracy and relations with China for the next four years.
International leaders have hailed Taiwan’s democratic elections and high voter turnout in their congratulations to Mr. Lai Ching-te. However, Beijing, which had hoped to see Taiwan’s ruling party overthrown, has taken offence.
Taiwan, meanwhile, issued a caution to Beijing on Sunday, saying that it should “face reality” and accept the outcome of the election after voters selected pro-sovereignty candidate Mr. Lai Ching-te as president.
In response to Mr. Lai’s victory, Beijing, which maintains that Taiwan is its territory and has never given up using force to annex the island, declared that it would not budge from the “inevitable trend of China’s reunification.”
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs calls on the Beijing authorities to respect the election results, face reality and give up suppressing Taiwan in order for positive cross-strait interactions to return to the right track,” China said in a statement.
With more than 40 percent of the vote, Mr. Lai’s pro-sovereignty Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) secured an unprecedented third term in office. Ms. Tsai Ing-wen, the president of the DPP since 2016, is giving way to Mr. Lai, who has vowed to carry on her foreign policy initiatives to thwart China’s intentions to annex Taiwan.
Mr. Lai promised on Sunday to protect the island from China’s “intimidation,” and Beijing was instructed to accept the outcome by the island’s foreign ministry.
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