Due to the failure of the opposition parties to cooperate, William Lai of the Democratic Progressive Party will be in pole position in January’s presidential election.
Taiwan’s opposition parties have registered separate candidates for next year’s presidential election, hours after an attempt to run in a joint election with the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DP) collapsed violently on live television.
The main opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), is fielding Hou Yu-hsi as its presidential candidate, while Ko Wen-ji is planning to run from the smaller Taiwan People’s Party (TPP).
The KMT chose pro-China media personality Joe Shoukong as Hou’s running mate, while the TPP chose one of its members, Cynthia Wu.
Terry Gow, the billionaire founder of Apple supplier Foxconn, announced in August that he would run as an independent, but he has lagged far behind other candidates in opinion polls and is unlikely to be elected by 2009. It is unclear whether it will be registered with the management committee. The deadline is Friday at 30 GMT.
“The failure of the (KMT-TPP) coalition government has disappointed 60% of the people,” Hou claimed at a press conference on Friday before heading out to register as a candidate.
“I called Mr. Ko at the last minute, but he didn’t answer. We waited until the last moment.”
The Jan. 13 election comes as Beijing, which considers Taiwan its own territory, ramps up military and political pressure on the autonomous island. The Democratic Progressive Party, which believes that the people themselves should decide on Taiwan’s future, has fielded William Lai, the current vice president, as its candidate, and Hsiao Bi-kim, a former special envoy to Taipei to the United States, as its running mate. It is advocated as. China calls them “separatists” and “independent duos.”
Opposition parties seen as pro-China announced last week that they would field a joint candidate in a move that could pose a major challenge to Lai, who has a large lead in opinion polls.
But as they struggled to reach an agreement, the effort ended in spectacular fashion late Thursday when the Kuomintang pulled out of the final round of negotiations, brokered by Mr. Guo and held in a Taipei hotel and broadcast live on television. It collapsed.
One of the most dramatic moments in an event marked by bickering and disagreements was when Mr. Hou read a private text message from Mr. Ke, in which Mr. They said they needed to “find a reason” to withdraw.
Mr. Ke, whose party is small, has performed better than expected and has recently gained support on a par with Mr. Hou.
Democratic Party Alliance
The Democratic Progressive Party remains united amidst opposition chaos, with Lai and Hsiao registering on Tuesday and moving forward with their election campaigns.
Lai spoke at a rally late Thursday, disparaging the opposition.
“Should we dare to let these people run the country?” he said. “Of course, this won’t work.”
China has long warned that it is prepared to use force to seize Taiwan, and the Kuomintang has sought to portray itself as the party most willing to cooperate with China and avoid conflict.
In a media meeting on Thursday, Democratic Progressive Party leader Xiao said war was “not an option” and the party was committed to maintaining the status quo.
“It is important that the international community…makes clear to our partners across the Taiwan Strait that dialogue is the only way to resolve differences,” she said.
Immediately after President Tsai Ing-wen was first elected in 2016, the Chinese government cut off high-level contact with the island and stepped up military activities.
Pressure continued even after the country was returned in a landslide in the last election in 2020, and even held large-scale military exercises to show dissatisfaction following high-profile visits to the island by politicians including the then-Speaker of the US House of Representatives. Overseas travel by Nancy Pelosi, Tsai, and Lai.
