william lai of the ruling dpp who is vowing to strengthen the island's ties with other democracies. the opposition party candidate who usually of the kmt says he will push for more dialogue. with china. gaining traction with younger voters. rupert wingfield—hayes reports. taiwan elections are noisy, boisterous affairs. in front of the presidential building in taipei, supporters of the ruling dpp are hoping for an unprecedented third presidential term. young voters told me they want to send a message to beijing that taiwan is nothing like china. in china, you cannot stand for your rights on the street and the way to express our opinion, we can vote for president. we can have many, many different voices, no matter if you
support the government or not, but in china it can get you only one voice.— only one voice. there is nothing _ only one voice. there is nothing like _ only one voice. there is nothing like this - only one voice. there is nothing like this in - only one voice. there is i nothing like this in china. this is what sets taiwan apart does make people here are free to choose their own leaders. they are proud of their democracy but also fear it is now under threat from china like never before. across town the opposition kmt is holding its own huge rally with the party's presidential candidate saying a third term for the dpp would be a disaster that could leave the island before lead to the island to war with china and if elected he said he will open a peace dialogue with beijing. open a peace dialogue with bei'inu. ~ , ., ., ., beijing. we prefer to get along with them peacefully, - beijing. we prefer to get along with them peacefully, right? . beijing. we prefer to get along | with them peacefully, right? so our economics can be improved. yeah, that's what we want. yeah, that's what we want. yeah, we don't want our young people to be brought into the war. , , ' people to be brought into the war. , ._ , ., people to be brought into the war. , , ., ., ., war. they may differ on how to mana . e war. they may differ on how to manage the — war. they may differ on how to manage the threat _ war. they may differ on how to manage the threat from - war. they may differ on how to | manage the threat from beijing but the major parties in taiwan on one thing — neither of them
it has called this election a choice between peace and war. china claims taiwan as its own territory despite the fact it has never controlled it. back to you, kim. >> all right. so china obviously watching this closely. here in the u.s., as well, the stakes are very high, as well. >> reporter: yeah, stakes very high in the united states. also in china. and it's china's reaction that is going to be critical here because if there is victory for the dpp, this is a party that china has openly disparaged. how would china react? it is expected that china would react -- be not pleased about that at all. as for the kmt, this is a party that china has traditionally favored. that being said, both of these parties are parties that have focused and stressed the sovereignty of taiwan, saying the fate and future of taiwan is
millions of people across taiwan went to the polls in these critical presidential and parliamentary elections. the ballots, as you see on your screen, are being counted in this famous lie efficient and transparent way. those yellow ballots represent votes for parliament, pink for president. and they are, as you can see, counted by hand. and each vote later are held up and put on public display before being tallied. and the result is due out later this evening. again, in just a few hours from now. the entire world is watching, especially china. i want to show you who is vying to succeed the president. there are three individuals. you have onelai ing te of the dpp,lso ho yu ih of the opposition kmt, the third, k wen je of the taiwan people's party or tpp. to talk about the candidate one by one, first up, the dpp's lai ching te. he is the vice president of taiwan, he says he would maintain the status quo and
outbreak is spreading around young children who have not been vaccinated. you can read more about the symptoms and what to look out for on our website, bbc.com/news. you're live with bbc news. it is election day in taiwan. hours ago, candidates held their last rallies before voting on the island's presidential election began. but a sobering issue looms large over the campaigns — how taiwan should address the threat from china. on the ballot is taiwan's current vice president, william lai of the ruling dpp. he's vowing to strengthen the island's ties with other democracies. the opposition party candidate, hou yu—ih of the kmt, says he'll push for more dialogue with beijing. the upstart tpp led by ko wen—je is seeking a middle ground, and gaining traction with young voters. from taipei, our rupert wingfield—hayes reports.
taiwan elections are noisy, boisterous affairs. the islands democracy is still young, and enthusiasm for voting is palpable. in front of the presidential building in taipei, supporters of the ruling dpp are hoping for an unprecedented third presidential term. young voters told me they want to send a message to beijing. to send a message to beijing — that taiwan is nothing like china. in taiwan, we can stand for our right. we can, on the street, express our opinion. we can vote our for president. we can have many, many different voices, no matter who you are, support government or not. but in china, you can you can be only one voice. there is nothing like this in china. this is what sets taiwan apart. people here are free to choose their own leaders. they are proud of their democracy. they are proud of their democracy, but they also fear it's now under threat from china like never before. across town, the opposition kmt
presidential election in taiwan is being fought over one issue — and that is what sort of relationship taiwan should have with china, and just politically but economically. the opposition kmt, the candidate says taiwan needs much better relations with china and the other party to achieve that, over the last two and three years, taiwan's exports to china have fallen by more than a quarter and a massive drag on the economy here. but the kmt says, we can rebuild relations with beijing and in that year, exports will start to grow again and that will help to boost economic development here, economic growth but wages and job prospects. the tpp which has beenin prospects. the tpp which has been in power here for the last eight years is exactly the opposite. it says its overdependence on china's economy that is the problem that allows beijing to use that dependence as a weapon of a pressure on taiwan, that is
election in taiwan is being fought over one issue — and that is what sort of relationship taiwan should have with china, notjust politically but economically. the opposition kmt, their candidate says taiwan needs much better relations with china and they are party to achieve that, over the last two and three years, taiwan's exports to china have fallen by more than a quarter and a massive drag on the economy here. but the kmt says, we can rebuild relations with beijing and in that way, exports will start to grow again and that will help to boost economic development here, economic growth but wages and job prospects. the ruling tpp, which has been in power here for the last eight years is exactly the opposite. it says it's overdependence on china's economy that is the problem that allows beijing to use that dependence as a weapon
over one issue, and that is what sort of relationship taiwan should have with china, notjust politically, but economically. the opposition kmt, their candidate says taiwan needs much better relations with china, and they are the party to achieve that. 0ver are the party to achieve that. over the last two or three years taiwan polymer exports to china have fallen by more than a quarter, and that has been a massive drag on the economy here. the kmt here says we can rebuild relations with beijing, and then export will grow again and then export will grow again and that will help to boost economic development here, economic development here, economic growth, and wages and job prospects for younger taiwanese people. the ruling dpp, which has been in power here for the last eight years, is exactly the opposite. it says its overdependence on china's economy is a problem because it allows beijing to use that dependence as a weapon to put pressure on taiwan, and thatis to put pressure on taiwan, and that is exactly what beijing has been doing, they say, over the last two years, functioning