Defying China, Taiwan elects William Lai Ching-te as president

China has no say in Taiwan’s elections, but for months its officials had warned that Taiwan should not choose William Lai Ching-te of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) as their new president. Mr Lai was a separatist whose election would create a “dangerous situation of high winds and urgent waves in the Taiwan Strait”, a spokesman for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office threatened. On January 13th Taiwan’s voters elected Mr Lai anyway, ushering in an unprecedented third term for the pro-independence ruling party.

So far the Taiwan Strait has remained relatively calm. But Mr Lai may soon face storms at home. His party has lost its majority in the Legislative Yuan, Taiwan’s parliament. It will struggle to forge consensus on divisive issues like defence spending and strategy. China already seems to have identified such domestic divisions as Taiwan’s weak point. Its first statement responding to the election claimed that the DPP’s victory “does not represent mainstream public opinion” and promised that it would keep working with “relevant parties, groups and people” within Taiwan to promote “national unification”.