Reuters Taipei (Taiwan)Lai Ching-te, the presidential candidate for Taiwan’s ruling party, won an election on Saturday that China had framed as a choice between war and peace. The candidate for Taiwan’s main opposition party the Kuomintang (KMT), Hou Yu-ih, conceded defeat in the election. Lai’s Democratic Progressive Party, which champions Taiwan’s separate identity and rejects China’s territorial claims, was seeking a third term, unprecedented under Taiwan’s current electoral system. In the run-up to the election, China repeatedly denounced Lai as a dangerous separatist and rebuffed his repeated calls for talks. Lai says he is committed to preserving peace across the Taiwan Strait and boosting the island’s defences.
