Taiwan Draws Clear US-Vs.-China Battle Lines in Key Election
- China-friendly parties fail to form alliance to challenge DPP
- Ruling party candidate Lai sees long-held lead in polls shrink
Lai Ching-te and his running mate Hsiao Bi-khim.
Photographer: Sam Yeh/AFP/Getty Images
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Taiwan’s voters in January will have the chance to reset the island’s fraught relationship with China, and cool down one of the world’s key geopolitical flashpoints.
With less than seven weeks to go until polling day, that prospect now hangs in the balance after opposition parties that seek better relations with Beijing failed to unite behind a single candidate, despite weeks of chaotic and often acrimonious negotiations that played out in public.