Taiwan opposition picks mayor with cautious China stance for presidential race
Financial Times
23-05-17 09:19
Taiwan’s main opposition party, Kuomintang (KMT), has selected the current mayor of the country's largest municipality, Hou Yu-ih, as its presidential nominee for the national elections in January. The founder of Foxconn, Terry Gou, who is the world’s largest assembler of iPhones was defeated for the nomination. Hou has taken a much more cautious approach to Beijing than Gou and is more likely to appeal to Taiwanese voters who overwhelmingly reject unification with China. Although China claims Taiwan as part of its territory, the island has run its own affairs for more than 70 years, and Beijing has not controlled it since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949. However, China has threatened to take Taiwan by force should it resist unification forever. The KMT continues to identify with China, which is Beijing's preferred choice, but Taiwanese voters have tended to alternate between the KMT and the Democratic Progressive Party.