Lai Ching-te's electoral victory in Taiwan paves the way for stronger US relations
9:00 AM EST, January 13, 2024
The election commission has not yet officially announced Lai's victory. However, his main rival, Hou You-ih of the Kuomintang, has already conceded defeat.
Lai Ching-te campaigned under the banner of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). For the past four years, he served as Vice President alongside Tsai Ing-wen, securing 40% of the votes in this election.
Lai's competitors, Hou Yu-ih of the major opposition party in Taiwan, the Nationalist Party (Kuomintang, KMT), and Ko Wen-je of the smaller Taiwan People's Party (TPP), acknowledged their defeat in speeches at rallies, wherein they congratulated Lai.
The polls opened at 8 a.m. local time and stayed open until 4 p.m. . Parliamentary elections were also being conducted alongside the presidential elections in Taiwan.
Election's High Stakes
As reported on money.pl, the parliamentary and presidential elections on the island carry geopolitical implications. Power interests intersect, and another global crisis potentially affecting Poland is at stake. Thus, the stakes are substantial.
Taiwan, formally known as the Republic of China, has been independent from mainland China since its division during the civil war of 1949. Beijing considers Taiwan a breakaway province of "one China" and has never discounted the possibility of forcefully reclaiming it.
The existing status quo has been challenged by Xi Jinping's aggressive rhetoric, in which he explicitly announced the annexation of Taiwan to "greater China" and by the actions of the US, such as arms sales and visits by high-ranking politicians.
The government in Beijing cautioned ahead of the elections that there is a choice between good and evil in Taiwan, and possibly even between war and peace. The US, on the other hand, warned Beijing against trying to manipulate the elections.
Last year, the American think tank CSIS simulated a Chinese attack on Taiwan. The simulation resulted in a loss for Beijing, but Taiwan, the US, and Japan would shoulder the substantial military costs.
