Taiwan’s president-elect Lai Ching-te vowed Saturday to defend the self-ruled island from “intimidation” by China, after voters defied warnings from Beijing and swept him to election victory.
Lai — branded by Beijing as a threat to peace in the flashpoint region — secured an unprecedented third consecutive term for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in Saturday’s poll after a raucous campaign in which he pitched himself as a defender of Taiwan’s democratic way of life.
Communist China claims democratic Taiwan, separated from the mainland by a 180-kilometre (110-mile) strait, as its own and refuses to rule out using force to bring about “unification”, even if conflict does not appear imminent.
Beijing, which before the poll called Lai a “severe danger” and urged voters to shun him, said Saturday the result would not stop “the inevitable trend of China’s…
