A Taiwanese Election That’s Not All About China
The economy could well decide the presidential election. The metrics look to favor incumbent Tsai Ing-wen.
The economic numbers look good.
Photographer: Sam Yeh/AFP/Getty
It’s easy to look at Taiwan’s presidential election in terms of its relationship with China. In reality, the contest is less about its neighbor than ever before. The economy is front and center for voters, and the data look good for incumbent Tsai Ing-wen.
When the Chinese Nationalist Party, known as the Kuomintang or KMT, lost a civil war to Mao Zedong’s Communists in 1949, the leadership fled to Taiwan and began decades of dictatorship. Democracy eventually took hold and in 2000, the Democratic Progressive Party, representing the interests of local Taiwanese rather than the exiles, ended KMT dominance. The narrative appeared simple: Taiwan independence versus unification with China.