People pass by a candidates’ poster of the Taiwanese presidential election in Taipei, Taiwan, Thursday, Dec. 28, 2023. Taiwan will hold its presidential election on Jan. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
The Taipei Times reported on Thursday that Taiwan’s “fraught relationship with China” is just one of the many issues being discussed during debates. Candidates have gone toe-to-toe over issues of allegations of illegal building expansions and… drinking Johnnie Walker whisky.
Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Vice President William Lai has been declared the frontrunner by outlets like the South China Morning Post. Lai is staunchly supportive of Taiwan’s independence and hosts “separatist” ideologies according to Aljazeera.
The Taipei Times claims Lai has a lead of 5% in most polls.
Recent allegations surfaced against the frontrunner, claiming that his childhood home in Taipei was illegally expanded by his family in a coal mining area.
Though Lai denies the allegations, opponents like the Taiwan People’s Party Presidential Candidate Ko Wen-je have confronted the politician about what is now nicknamed his “rascally shack,” according to the Taipei Times.
Yet, perhaps the most interesting development in this election involves claims that Ko’s running mate, Cynthia Wu, was “out of touch” for expressing her love of drinking Johnnie Walker scotch.
An opposing candidate from the Democratic Progressive Party, Wang Ting-yu, fired back: “We mostly drank plain water.”
Wu kept her composure:
“Sarsparilla, beer, guava juice and Johnnie Walker is for us Taiwanese what should be on the table to drink. OK? So there’s no need to make a fuss about it.”
As tracked by CNBC, tension between the United States and China has been increasingly on the rise, and the election of a pro-separatist candidate such as William Lai might push the two superpowers even further apart.
Though Taiwan split from China in the civil war in 1949, Reuters reported on Dec. 31 that President Xi Jinping claimed a reunion is imminent.
“The reunification of the motherland is a historical inevitability,” Xi said in his New Year’s Eve address, according to Reuters. “China will surely be reunified.”
This puts the U.S. in a difficult position, however, as due to the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, it is an American policy to make sure Taiwan has the weapons and resources it might need should conflict with China arise, according to ABC News.
Though some candidates for the election wish to use a gentler touch in terms of relations with Beijing, it appears that Lai hosts a more separatist bent.
Reuters reported according to China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, Lai “exposed his true face as a stubborn ‘worker for Taiwan independence’ and destroyer of peace across the Taiwan Strait.”
The election is set to take place Jan. 13.
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