KMT

Chinese officials and state media predictably set their hair on fire after Lai Ching-te won Taiwan’s presidential election on Saturday, extending the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) hold on power to an unprecedented third term.

China’s state-run Global Times on Thursday mocked Taiwanese and U.S. media for being concerned about “harmless weather balloons flying over the island.” 

Taiwan’s presidential race took a few interesting twists Saturday and Sunday, as an effort by the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) to create a fusion ticket collapsed, while front-running Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Lai Ching-te chose Taiwan’s envoy to the United States as his running mate.

Tech billionaire Terry Gou, founder and former CEO of the Hon Hai Technology Group — more commonly known as Foxconn — on Monday became the fourth contestant in Taiwan’s January presidential election.

Taiwan’s Chinese Nationalist Party, Kuomintang (KMT), protested the coronavirus policy of the island’s ruling party at a legislative session on Tuesday, with several KMT members shoving opposing lawmakers to the floor of the parliamentary building and drenching others with water.

Taiwan’s presidential election entered its final day of campaigning with a mixture of angry allegations, calls for unity, and international tensions. Incumbent President Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) remains heavily favored to win, but Tsai herself advised supporters to “come together and never underestimate our rival,” meaning Kuomintang (KMT) candidate Han Kuo-yu.

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