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Taiwan voted to elect its new president and renew the 113 seats of the Legislative Yuan: the winner is William Lai of the Democratic Progressive Party. “We showed the world how much we care about democracy,” he said. The announcement of Lai's victory with 40.2% of the vote was made by the Central Election Commission. This result confirms the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which is unpopular in China, as the country's leader for the third time. There were three presidential candidates: Lai was followed by Hou Yu-ih, who ran for the KMT nationalists and whom Beijing wanted as commander, and then the third, Ko Wen-je from the People's Party. According to initial estimates, voter turnout was record-breaking and exceeded 70%. This presidential election is one of the most important electoral events of 2024, with the shadow of intimidation from China, which has no plans to let Taiwan go. The tension surrounding the vote was therefore very high: Beijing obscured the voting hashtags on the social media platform Weibo, the Chinese X. And Taipei said it had eight Chinese fighter jets and six military ships around in the hours immediately before the vote discovered around the island. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on China to maintain “peace and stability” in the Taiwan Strait, as the State Department itself reported in a statement.
Who are the candidates?
William Lai, a former doctor and current vice president, is the name feared by Beijing, accusing him of independence supporters. Hou Yu-ih, former national police chief and mayor of New Taipei on election leave, has traditionally taken a more conciliatory approach to Beijing's positions. Ko Wen-je is the former mayor of Taipei. The right of young people to vote is very important: according to the island's Central Electoral Commission, over 30% of voters are between 20 and 39 years old. In the final phase of the election campaign, it was the most targeted population group, dominating media headlines and attracting numerous political commitments from parties and candidates.
China: “Australia must avoid mistakes on Taiwan or risk the abyss”
Beijing has now issued an extraordinary warning to Australia: any “miscalculations” in Canberra’s relations with the rebel island’s next government would result in the Australian people being “pushed to the brink of an abyss,” wrote Chinese Ambassador to Canberra, Xiao Qian , in a letter op-ed for the Australian stating that “maintaining national unity and territorial integrity are sacred rights of all sovereign states.” As the vote approaches, Qian writes, “I have found that some people on the ground have misconceptions about this issue” and that “what's worse, some are even spreading disinformation” and arguing that China's central government “never really has control.” Taiwan has exercised”. others describe the relationship between Taiwan and the mainland as “democracy versus authoritarianism.” Still others, he added, denigrate China for changing the status quo in the Taiwan Strait and endangering regional peace and stability. “I would like to point out here that Taiwan is China's Taiwan, an inalienable part of China's territory, and this is the premise we must keep in mind when understanding the Taiwan issue,” Xiao concluded.
