LAI Ching-te – who China sees as a dangerous “troublemaker” – has won Taiwan’s presidential election.
Lai’s Democratic Progressive party (DPP), which rejects China’s territorial claims to the island, secured an unprecedented third term – a result likely to infuriate Beijing and send tensions spiralling.
Lai Ching-te has won the presidential election in Taiwan
EPABeijing strongly opposed Lai’s campaign for presidency[/caption]
Lai Ching-te, who is the current vice president, is set to replace Tsai Ing-wen, who has served the limit of two terms.
The election result is set to chart the trajectory of relations with China over the next four years.
At stake is the peace and stability of the 110-mile-wide strip of water between the Chinese mainland and the self-governed island, which is claimed by China as its own.
Lai has accumulated five million votes and became the first presidential candidate to do so, local broadcasters said.
Ballots have been counted from 95 per cent of polling stations across Taiwan as Lai emerged as an impregnable lead.
Ahead of the elections, China chillingly called the poll “a choice between war and peace”.
Beijing strongly opposed Lai’s presidential campaign as both he and former president Tsai Ing-wen reject China’s sovereignty claims over Taiwan, a former Japanese colony that split from the mainland amid civil war in 1949.
They have, however, offered to speak with Beijing, which has repeatedly refused to hold talks and called them separatists.
Apart from tensions with China, the election largely hinged on domestic issues, such as a slowed economy, housing affordability, a yawning gap between rich and poor, and unemployment.
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EPAThe smiling new president of Taiwan[/caption]