Lai Ching-te of Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has been elected as the self-governing island’s new leader following Saturday’s presidential election.
Lai, who entered the election as Taiwan’s vice president, claimed victory after the candidate representing the island’s main opposition party, Hou Yu-ih, conceded defeat.
The DPP, which was seeking a third term in power, rejects Chinese sovereignty over Taiwan and maintains that the island has the right to a separate identity from mainland China. Lai has said he is determined to preserve peace across the Taiwan Strait, but has called for boosting the self-governing territory’s defences, to ward off possible threats from Beijing.
Lai was declared the victor after partial results showed that he had gained 40.2% of the vote, prompting Hou – as well as former Taipei mayor, Ko Wen-je of the Taiwan People’s Party – to withdraw from the race. Incumbent Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen is constitutionally prohibited from seeking a third term in office.
“Every vote is valued, as this is Taiwan’s hard-earned democracy,” Lai said in the southern city of Tainan on Saturday before casting his vote, according to Reuters.
One person was killed and at least four others wounded in a Ukrainian rocket strike…
We have been through an intense, if muffled crisis in the ongoing political-military confrontation between…
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky claimed on Friday that Russian forces have launched a new large-scale…
NATO soldiers are already in Ukraine helping Kiev but the US-led bloc does not want…
Russia has celebrated the 79th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany in World War II…
The Russian military has seized two settlements in Kharkov Region and Donbass from Ukrainian forces,…