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Weiming's avatar

I agree with your conclusion, the three of them seem more or less okay but Tsai was one class above (despite her own shortcomings). Would you agree that cross-strait relationship may be less important than usual? I - and that s just a personal institution - believe than, for once, domestic issues may be as meaningful as the CStrait one, which isnt the norm for a presidential election

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Angelica Oung's avatar

I think so. After 2 DPP terms where the election was very focused on cross straits issues the electorate got major fatigue on this issue and this you saw in the local elections where some truly marginal issues ended up biting candidates hard and Tsai herself was punished for making the local elections about China.

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Chris Bergan's avatar

Apologies for this delayed comment. The general issue of Taiwan-USA-China relations seems to be something which will become a primary news item in the coming decade, so thanks for this rundown of the election.

I listen to a variety of podcasts, and two recently highlighted Taiwan. The President's Inbox recently had guests Susan M. Gordon and Admiral Michael G. Mullen to talk about the recent report by the US Council on Foreign Relations. www.cfr.org/podcasts/future-us-taiwan-relations-susan-m-gordon-and-michael-g-mullen

The other podcast is Congressional Dish, which showed sessions of the US Congress where Taiwan had been the subject. Some of these are in the past few months. It seems to me that while the content is troubling, also the understanding of world issues by the non-boomer generations (and the podcast host, in this instance) is a worry. Diplomacy cannot succeed without a nuanced understanding of all sides - I hope that this is not a war for the 2030's, or ever. https://congressionaldish.com/cd272-what-is-taiwan/

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Leon's avatar

What is Terry Guo up to if not vying for leadership? Will he have a backseat role?

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Angelica Oung's avatar

Terry Guo was f'ed over. Ha can do nothing but play footsie impotently with Ko as he fumes.

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Cecile Marie's avatar

Thanks for the insight. Any chance a fourth candidate could pop up and save the day?

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Angelica Oung's avatar

Doubt it Cecile. But I'm pretty OK with Lai.

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