China has been named as the winner in Taiwan’s recent local elections where the ruling Democratic Progressive Party lost to the opposition party that typically favors closer economic ties with mainland China. Tensions have escalated and calmed over various issues in the past years, and the ruling party had been known to push issues connected to independence since their rise to power in 2016. The KMT party, victors in this election, ruled the country from 2008 to 2016, years that saw close Taiwan-China relations. Experts claim that China was able to influence the outcome of the election by exerting economic pressure that would voters to the KMT. The Eurosia Group has since stated that “The results were a major comeback for the KMT party, which began a process of intra-party reformation after losing the presidential election in 2016…Beijing will view the results of this election as a solid endorsement of its pressure campaign against the DPP.”
Source: Taiwan election: China is big winner as Tsai Ing-wen’s DPP party loses
