President quits

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen resigned as head of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party after local election losses on Saturday in which voters chose the opposition Nationalist party in several major races. Concerns about threats from China took a backseat to more local issues in the elections. Tsai had spoken out many times about “opposing China and defending Taiwan” in the course of campaigning. But the party’s Chen Shih-chung, who lost his battle for mayor of Taipei, only raised the issue of the Chinese threat a few times before he switched back to local issues due to little interest.