Shortly after Lai Ching-te, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate, won Taiwan’s widely watched presidential election on January 13, the spokesperson for Beijing’s Taiwan Affairs Office said in a statement, “The results of this election in the Taiwan region show that the DPP does not represent mainstream public opinion.” Lai had captured 40 percent of … Read more
The Diplomat author Mercy Kuo regularly engages subject-matter experts, policy practitioners, and strategic thinkers across the globe for their diverse insights into U.S. Asia policy. This conversation with Dr. Benjamin Tsai – senior associate at TD International (TDI) and former U.S. government intelligence officer on Northeast Asia and the Middle East – is the 397th … Read more
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos yesterday extended his congratulations to Lai Ching-te, the winner of Taiwan’s presidential election, saying that he was looking forward to “close collaboration.” “On behalf of the Filipino people, I congratulate President-elect Lai Ching-te on his election as Taiwan’s next president,” Marcos wrote yesterday on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter). … Read more
Current Vice President Lai Ching-te (also know as William Lai) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won the Taiwanese presidential election on January 13. Lai won with 5,586,019 votes, while Hou Yu-ih of the Kuomintang (KMT) took 4,671,021 votes. Ko Wen-je, the candidate of the relatively new Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), had a strong performance … Read more
On January 13, Taiwan will hold presidential and legislative elections. Taiwan’s voters will cast one vote for president, one vote for a candidate running for the legislature in their home district, and one vote for their preferred party. The candidate with the most votes will win the presidency, even if they have a plurality rather … Read more
On January 9, just days before the election, Taiwanese received an unusual surprise. At 3:04 p.m. local time, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense (MND) issued a warning about the flyover of a rocket carrying a newly launched People’s Republic of China (PRC) satellite. The alert went out to every person’s cell phone. It was the … Read more
As Taiwan’s presidential election draws nearer, national-level issues like Taiwan’s relationship with the United States, its most important ally, come to the forefront of public discourse. Candidates are examined based on their foreign policy platforms, but there is a proliferation of narratives and even disinformation about the bilateral relationship within Taiwanese society aimed at influencing … Read more
In the final days before voting on January 13, Taiwan’s major political parties are holding their last large-scale campaign rallies – and also increasingly leaning into partisan attacks on each other. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate William Lai has come under fire by the pan-Blue camp for what is framed as an illegal structure owned … Read more
2024 will see the governments of China and Russia attempt to use their political and economic influence to influence critical elections. Beijing seeks to block the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) from sweeping Taiwan’s presidential and legislative elections on January 13. Moscow, meanwhile, aims to shore up Donald Trump in the U.S. presidential election on November … Read more
With less than a month until the Taiwanese presidential elections, concerns are on the rise regarding how China might attempt to interfere in the elections. Chinese military threats directed at Taiwan continue, with daily air incursions and naval activity. This month saw Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense publicize information about movement by a Chinese surveillance … Read more