Richard McGregor, Columnist

Beijing’s Ground Game in Taiwan Is Growing Smarter

The Communist Party is getting more sophisticated about influencing local politics in the region.

November 27, 2018 at 5:25 AM UTC

Richard McGregor is a senior fellow at the Lowy Institute in Sydney. He has been the bureau chief for the Financial Times in Beijing, Shanghai and Washington, and is the author most recently of "Asia’s Reckoning: China, Japan, and the Fate of U.S. Power in the Pacific Century".

This time, the Kuomintang has a lot to celebrate.
Photographer: Chris Stowers/AFP/Getty Images

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At least one thing is clear from local elections in Taiwan over the weekend: President Tsai Ing-wen and her ruling Democratic Progressive Party lost badly. Less clear, however, is how well Beijing won.

In a slew of polls and referendums on the self-governed island, Tsai’s DPP lost key races in the party’s longstanding local strongholds and saw its progressive agenda on gay marriage and a tougher line against Beijing repudiated.