Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate William Lai has been elected as the country's new president. Presidential and parliamentary elections were held in the country on Saturday. The newly elected President William is known as an anti-Chinese leader.
William Lai's main opposition rival Kuomintang candidate Ho Yee-Yeh accepted defeat in the election.
China has warned Taiwanese people not to vote, calling Lai a "troublemaker".
William Lai's party presented Taiwan as an independent and self-governing territory. They want Taiwan to remain free of Chinese influence. By winning this election, the party came to power in Taiwan for the third term.
Running against William Lai in the presidential election were the Kuomintang's Ho Yeh-Yeh and Ko Wen-Je, the former mayor of the capital, Taipei. He ran for the Taiwan People's Party, founded in 2019.
China, which claims Taiwan as its territory, has called newly elected President William Li a 'terrible separatist'. Although Lai wanted to discuss Taiwan's future with China several times; The country rejected his request.
Lai said before the election that he would work on stabilizing the Taiwan Strait and strengthening its defenses if he became president.
China was all over Taiwan's election. Taiwan's defense ministry said on Saturday that Beijing had launched balloons over its territory on election day.
In addition to the presidential election, parliamentary elections were also held in Taiwan today. It is not yet known which party won the majority in this election. But if no party gets a majority, the president will struggle to pass defense spending and many laws.
