Taiwan's 17 million voters are expected go to the polls Saturday to elect a new president. The issue of a Chinese crackdown on rioters in Tibet may alter the outcome of an increasingly close election.
BEIJING—The people of Taiwan go to the polls Saturday for the fourth presidential election in its short democratic history.
The front runner is 57-year-old Ma Ying-jeou, a Harvard-trained lawyer who recently served as mayor of Taipei. Ma heads the Nationalist Party, which ruled Taiwan for five decades after it lost a civil war to Chinese communists in 1949 and fled to the island.
The Nationalists won Taiwan's first-ever presidential election in 1996, but have lost the last two.
His challenger is 61-year-old Frank Hsieh, a former human rights lawyer who hopes to consolidate his Democratic Progressive Party's hold on power, following its first president, incumbent Chen Shui-bian.
The main issue is Taiwan's relationship with Beijing, which regards the island as an inseparable part of the Chinese nation.
Both candidates say they favor closer and more stable relations with China. But Nationalist candidate Ma has offered a policy with more specifics and scope. The DPP's Hsieh also has to deal with Beijing's dislike of President Chen, who has been widely seen as pushing for Taiwan independence.
Taiwan voters pick a new president on March 22, choosing between Frank Hsieh of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party and Ma Ying-jeou of the Nationalist Party (KMT).
The vote is only the fourth contested presidential poll since the island of 23 million people embraced democracy in the mid-1980s.
Here are some milestones in the self-ruled island's path to democratisation.
* February 1947: A Taipei street dispute over the state cigarette monopoly flares into a chain of protests against Nationalist Party rule from China.
* 1949: Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek flees to Taiwan with about 2 million supporters to escape the advancing Communist army in China. Washington continues to recognise Chiang's Republic of China government in Taipei, not the Beijing-based People's Republic of China.
* 1972: U.S. President Richard Nixon signs the Shanghai Joint Communique with the People's Republic of China, declaring that there is only one China and that Taiwan is part of it.
* 1978: Chiang Kai-shek's son, Chiang Ching-kuo, is chosen to be president three years after his father's death in 1975.
* 1979: Beijing and Washington establish diplomatic relations. Later that year, President Jimmy Carter signs the Taiwan Relations Act, allowing informal relations to continue between the United States and Taiwan.
* 1984: Chiang Ching-kuo is re-elected and begins democratisation of the political system.
* 1986: Dissidents form the Democratic Progressive Party.
* 1987: Chiang Ching-kuo lifts martial law after 38 years, the world's longest period of continuous military rule.
* 1988: Chiang Ching-kuo dies. His designated successor, Lee Teng-hui, is sworn in as president in May 1990.
* 1994: First direct elections for governor of Taiwan province and mayors of Taipei and Kaohsiung cities.
* 1996: Lee wins more than 50 percent of the votes in Taiwan's first direct presidential election.
* 2000: More than 50 years of Nationalist Party rule end as the DPP's Chen Shui-bian is elected president. The DPP adopts a hard line against China, advocating formal independence.
* 2004: Chen survives an apparent assassination attempt to win re-election by a 0.2 percent margin. Taiwan holds its first referendum in conjunction with the presidential elections, which fails to get the required 50 percent of voter participation.
* 2006: Chen cedes some of his powers, including control of the cabinet, to the premier, as corruption allegations involving his family swirl.
* January 2008: The Nationalists win a landslide victory in parliamentary elections. Chen, who is barred from running for president again by a two-term rule, steps down as DPP chairman.
* March 22, 2008: Taiwan to elect president and vice president.
Source: Reuters
Polls had initially given Ma a comfortable lead over Hsieh, but that gap is shrinking.
Chong-Pin Lin, president of the Taipei-based Foundation on International and Cross-Straits Studies, says the main thing narrowing the gap is Taiwanese voters reaction to China's recent crackdown in Tibet.
"Both contending parties are trying to make the most of this, to their own benefit," Lin said. "However, in my observation, the DPP seems to be ahead. They reacted very fast."
China claims both Tibet and Taiwan and accuses opposition forces of having separatist intentions.
However, Lin says Beijing's approaches to Taiwan and Tibet have been different. He says he believes the Chinese government is trying to take what he describes as a "soft approach" toward the island, to try to woo it into accepting reunification.
"Beijing plans to let Taiwan fall into Beijing's hand, as a ripened fruit, by other than military instruments—economic, social, cultural, you name it," Lin said.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao recently told reporters Beijing has a more conciliatory attitude toward Taiwan. He began his comments by reciting lines from a 700-year-old poem.
"We remain brothers, after all the vicissitudes," Mr. Wen said. "Let us forgo our old grudges. When smiling, we meet again. We are willing to expand the range and scope of our business ties and trade with Taiwan, including in the fields of investment, trade, tourism, banking sector."
Taiwanese investment in China is estimated at $100 billion.
Despite seeking closer economic ties, China militarily underscores its warning against Taiwan independence by pointing hundreds of missiles at the island.
In talks with foreign leaders, the Chinese government has consistently raised the issue of Taiwan as its most-important priority.
Feeds