The Taiwanese elected William Lai Ching-te of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) as their next president, despite Beijing’s threat that voting for Lai would lead to war.
The campaign to succeed Taiwan’s incumbent President Tsai Ing-wen, who will step down in May due to term limits, was a fierce three-way race, including Vice President Lai of the DPP, Hou Yu-ih of the Kuomintang (KMT), and Ko Wen-je from the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). Beijing accuses the DPP of “promoting” Taiwan’s independence, a red line Beijing would never tolerate. To coerce the Taiwanese to vote for its preferred KMT presidential candidate, Beijing had aggressively tried to interfere in Taiwan’s election, including claiming the choice between the DPP and the KMT would determine war and peace. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) applied additional pressure by showing off China’s military might before and on election day.
Leading up to the election, Lai and Hou were polling almost neck-and-neck. Probably out of a desire to help Hou’s campaign, Taiwan’s former President Ma Ying-jeou of the KMT gave Germany’s Deutsche Welle an interview. Ma remarked that it’s futile for Taiwan to arm itself because “China is too big” to resist and the United States would never send its military to help defend Taiwan; a “reunification” with the mainland is acceptable because the Taiwanese should trust Xi and hope for his “benevolence.” Ma also refused to call Xi a dictator.
Ma’s defeatist remarks drew widespread criticism in Taiwan. Many said his words reflected what the KMT really planned for
