Taiwan’s recent election result highlights voters’ steadfast determination to resist China’s influence on their politics. Despite all Beijing’s efforts to sway popular support towards its preferred party, the Kuomintang (KMT), the election was won by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate, incumbent vice-president William Lai.
Beijing also reacted angrily to messages of congratulations received by Lai from an array of world leaders including the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and the British foreign secretary, David Cameron, who said that the result was “testament to Taiwan’s vibrant democracy”.
"Clearly the Taiwanese people value their democracy and wanted to send their own message to Beijing through the best medium there is: the ballot box," writes Yukteshwar Kumar Course Director at Department of Politics, Languages & International Studies at the University of Bath.