Taiwan's political arena saw a lot of drama unfold on Friday as alliance talks between Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People's Party (TPP) broke down. Even Foxconn founder and billionaire Terry Gou decided to pull out of the election.
Taiwan's two major opposition parties Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People's Party (TPP) have decided to go different ways in the upcoming general elections after alliance talks broke down on Friday. Kuomintang and the Taiwan People's Party were actively involved in constant discussions to forge an alliance and take on the strong Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
The ruling Democratic Progressive Party gained a massive boost ahead of the polls as their road to victory got less complicated. Kuomintang and Taiwan People's Party have lost two consecutive general elections. Both opposition parties are also advocates of better ties with rival neighbor China.
Kuomintang and the Taiwan People's Party have been soft on China and its constant airspace violation of Taiwan. While the ruling Democratic Progressive Party has been hard on China by raking up the threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to the sovereignty of Taiwan. China has already commented on the upcoming Taiwan elections by terming it a choice between “peace and war”. The potshots were directed towards the Democratic Progressive Party and its Presidential candidate Lai Ching-te whom the CCP views as a dangerous separatist and has rebuffed offers of talks.
KMT's presidential candidate, Hou Yu-ih, and TPP's presidential candidate Ko Wen-je went separate ways after mistrust and angst built up in the alliance talks. The opposition alliance talks were brokered by Foxconn founder and billionaire Terry Gou. Terry Gou who himself announced as running for the Presidential election as an independent candidate pulled out of the race on Friday.
The people of Taiwan on Friday witnessed dramatic visuals one after the other. Hou Yu-ih announced Jaw Shaw-kong as his Vice Presidential candidate while Ko Wen-je selected Cynthia Wu as his running mate. The chaos in the opposition camp has given momentum to Democratic Progressive Party who could be in line for a third consecutive term.
Taiwan's Vice President and Democratic Progressive Party candidate Lai Ching-te while hitting out at the opposition parties said, “Should we dare to hand over the business of running the country to these people? Of course, this is not OK.” Recently, the frontrunner leader in the polls announced Taiwan’s de facto Ambassador to the US Hsiao Bi-khim as his running mate.