\n
\n
TAIPEI, Taiwan , 26 Nov (AP) \u2014 Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen resigned as head of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party following local election losses on Saturday suffered by her party.<\/p>\n
Voters in Taiwan overwhelmingly chose the opposition Nationalist party in several major races across the self-ruled island in an election in which lingering concerns about threats from China took a backseat to more local issues.<\/p>\n
Tsai had spoken out many times about \u201copposing China and defending Taiwan\u201d in the course of campaigning for her party. But the party\u2019s candidate Chen Shih-chung, who lost his battle for mayor of Taipei, only raised the issue of the Communist Party\u2019s threat a few times before he quickly switched back to local issues as there was little interest, experts said.<\/p>\n
Tsai offered her resignation on Saturday evening, a tradition after a major loss, in a short speech in which she also thanked supporters.<\/p>\n
\u201cI must shoulder all the responsibility,\u201d she said. \u201cFaced with a result like this, there are many areas that we must deeply review.\u201d<\/p>\n
While international observers and the ruling party have attempted to link the elections to the long-term existential threat that is Taiwan\u2019s neighbor, many local experts do not think China \u2014 which claims the island as its territory to be annexed by force if necessary \u2014 has a large role to play this time around.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe international community has raised the stakes too high. They\u2019ve raised a local election to this international level, and Taiwan\u2019s survival,\u201d said Yeh-lih Wang, a political science professor at National Taiwan University.<\/p>\n
During campaigning, there were few mentions of the large-scale military exercises targeting Taiwan that China held in August in reaction to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi\u2019s visit.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I think if you can\u2019t even raise this issue in Taipei,\u201d Wang said. \u201cYou don\u2019t even need to consider it in cities in the south.\u201d<\/p>\n
Candidates from the Nationalist party won the mayoral seat in Taipei, Taiwan\u2019s capital, as well as in Taoyuan, Taichung and New Taipei city.<\/p>\n
Taiwanese were picking their mayors, city council members and other local leaders in all 13 counties and in nine cities. There was also a referendum to lower the voting age from 20 to 18, which was defeated, according to local media.<\/p>\n
Chiang Wan-an, the new Taipei mayor, declared victory Saturday night in a large rally. \u201cI will let the world see Taipei\u2019s greatness,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Not all votes had been formally counted by the time of his speech, but Chiang and the other candidates\u2019 numerical lead allowed them to declare victory.<\/p>\n
Kao Hung-an, a candidate in the relatively new Taiwan People\u2019s Party, won the mayoral seat in Hsinchu, a city home to many of Taiwan\u2019s semi-conductor companies.<\/p>\n
Campaigns had resolutely focused on the local: air pollution in the central city of Taichung, traffic snarls in Taipei\u2019s tech hub Nangang, and the island\u2019s COVID-19 vaccine purchasing strategies, which had left the island in short supply during an outbreak last year.<\/p>\n
The defeat for the ruling DPP may be partly due to how it handled the pandemic.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe public has some dissatisfaction with the DPP on this, even though Taiwan has done well relatively speaking in pandemic prevention,\u201d said Weihao Huang, a political science professor at National Sun Yat-sen University.<\/p>\n
At an elementary school in New Taipei City, the city that surrounds Taipei, voters young and old came early despite the rain.<\/p>\n
Yu Mei-zhu, 60, said she came to cast her ballot for the incumbent Mayor Hou You-yi. \u201cI think he has done well, so I want to continue to support him. I believe in him, and that he can improve our environment in New Taipei City and our transportation infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tsai came out early Saturday morning to cast her ballot, catching many voters by surprise as her security and entourage swept through the school.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the DPP loses many county seats, then their ability to rule will face a very strong challenge,\u201d said You Ying-lung, chair at the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation that regularly conducts public surveys on political issues.<\/p>\n
The election results will in some ways also reflect the public\u2019s attitude toward the ruling party\u2019s performance in the last two years, You said.<\/p>\n
Some felt apathetic to the local race. \u201cIt feels as if everyone is almost the same, from the policy standpoint,\u201d said 26-year-old Sean Tai, an employee at a hardware store.<\/p>\n
Tai declined to say who he voted for, but wants someone who will raise Taipei\u2019s profile and bring better economic prospects while keeping the status quo with China. \u201cWe don\u2019t want to be completely sealed off. I really hope that Taiwan can be seen internationally,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TAIPEI, Taiwan , 26 Nov (AP) \u2014 Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen resigned as head of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party following local election losses on Saturday suffered by her party. Voters in Taiwan overwhelmingly chose the opposition Nationalist party in several major races across the self-ruled island in an election in which lingering concerns about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-205684","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205684"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205684\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}