China’s shadow looms large as Taiwan heads to polls

TAIPEI—Taiwan is expected to turn its back on closer ties with China when it votes for a new president on Saturday, in an election symbolizing the island’s battle for identity.

As citizens prepare to go to the polls, many frustrated Taiwanese are calling for change as fears grow over China’s increasing influence, casting a gloom exacerbated by economic woes.

Trade deals implemented by the rul- ing Kuomintang and a tourism boom have been offset by deep unease that China is eroding Taiwan’s sovereignty by making it economically dependent.

Voters are also angry that the economic benefits from closer ties with China have not filtered down to ordinary Taiwanese.

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which takes a much more skeptical approach to China relations, is tipped to win Saturday’s vote, and make its leader Tsai Ing-wen Taiwan’s first woman president.

Voters fear Taiwan will eventually be “snatched” by Beijing, says Lee Shiao-feng, Taiwanese culture professor at the National Taipei University of Education.

“They want to say ‘no’ to China,” said Lee. “Surveys show that more and more people here, even second- or third-gen- eration mainlanders, consider themselves Taiwanese rather than Chinese.”

Tsai said Taiwan must move away from economic dependence and that public sentiment would influence her cross-strait strategy.

However, in a sign of pragmatism, she also said that she would maintain the “status quo,” and toned down the DPP’s traditional pro-independence stance.