Taiwan will hold presidential elections on January 13, but the gap between Lai Ching-te of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Hou Yu-ih of the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) is narrowing. On Tuesday, Lai accused the opposition of favoring Beijing.
Lai, who is also the current vice president of Taiwan, said the KMT has not only abandoned its anti-communism but also started supporting communists.
Beijing’s rulers have repeatedly called the DPP candidate a separatist and painted the vote as a choice between war and peace.
“Whenever there is an election in Taiwan, China always intervenes, hoping to support a pro-China administration,” Lai said at a live event attended by fellow presidential candidates Hou and the former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je. The latter represents the small Taiwan People’s Party, which seeks to present itself as a centrist force between the two extremes.
Chinese authorities describe Taiwan’s elections as an internal matter and call accusations of DPP interference an attempt to mobilize their voters.
However, the DPP’s accusations have merit, as many unfounded claims attributed to China have been circulating on Taiwanese social media recently, Politico reports.
Thus, rumors spread on social media that the United States had asked Taiwan to develop biological weapons. According to another rumor, the DPP is spying on its competitors.
Since the candidates were not allowed to debate each other during the event, but each candidate could simply present their opinions in a speech, Hou responded to the accusations after the program ended.
Hou told reporters that it was a slander against his party aimed at painting the KMT as “red”, a reference to the distinctive color of mainland Chinese communists.
“We don’t need elections in which slander is spread and painted [meid] red, and we don’t need ideological manipulation,” Hou said.
The KMT has typically promoted closer ties with China, but denies that this means supporting authorities in Beijing. Just like the DPP, the KMT claims that only the people of Taiwan can decide the island’s future.
An average of polls published on the My Formosa portal suggests Lai will continue to hold first place, but his lead over Hou has narrowed. The incumbent vice president has the support of 35.2% of voters, while Hou has the support of 30.6% and Ko remains in third place with 19.6%. However, according to some polls the fight is even more balanced and Lai’s advantage over Hou is essentially non-existent.
Elections are won by the candidate with the most votes, so any candidate’s lead, even a very small one, would automatically mean victory.
At the same time, Beijing is increasing pressure on Taiwan, declaring itself ready to “reunify” the island with the mainland, even by force if necessary. The Communist Party also warns other countries against supporting Taiwan.
On the same day the presidential candidates shared their thoughts with Taiwanese viewers, Chinese President Xi Jinping said China must stop anyone from separating Taiwan from China.
Xi spoke at an event dedicated to the 130th anniversary of Mao Zedong’s birth. According to the leader of the Chinese Communist Party, Taiwan must be reunified with China, and the reunification will happen anyway.
2023-12-26 11:39:00
the-presidential-candidate-of-taiwans-ruling-party-accused-the-opposition-of-communism-foreign-country