TAIPEI: Frontrunner presidential candidate Lai Ching-te stated to AFP on Wednesday ( Jan 3 ) as he entered the campaign trial 10 days prior to the crucial poll that the Taiwanese people” will resist” China’s attempts to meddle in the island election on January 13.
Beijing rejects the approach of Lai’s Democrat Progressive Party, which maintains that Taiwan is “already self-employed,” and claims the self-ruled peninsula as part of its territory.
Lai is up against two other candidates who have promised closer ties with China if elected after Beijing labeled him a” troublemaker” and” separatist.”
After greeting supporters at a busy Taipei intersection that morning, he told AFP that” the political camp is very involved” about alleged Chinese election interference.
The 64-year-old, who also serves as Taiwan’s vice president, said that this is Asia in its first election of the year and that China is interfering with the election in Taiwan in a very, very significant way.
However, Lai has” trust in the persons because Taiwan has emerged from the authoritarian era to the present day.”
” The politics of Taiwan is cherished by all.” I am confident that the populace may oppose China’s attempts to sway this election by using a variety of troops, he said.
Beijing and Washington policymakers are carefully observing Taiwan’s election on January 13 because the results could alter potential ties with China, which is becoming more belligerent.
The other two candidates are Ko Wen-je of the newly formed Taiwan People’s Party and Hou Yu-ih of Beijing-friendly Kuomintang ( KMT ), the oldest political party in Taiwan.