Taiwan to pick new president as China ramps up threats: 'choice between war and peace'

The US and China are keeping close tabs on Taiwan's presidential election set to take place next week. The present frontrunner, and current vice-president, faces a former police chief.

The frontrunner is the current Vice President William Lai of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which is loathed by Beijing. Once unabashedly pro-Taiwan independence, the DPP has softened its position. Under current President Tsai Ing-wen, a new DPP policy crystalized, with Tsai telling the BBC after her landslide re-election in 2020 that Taiwan had no need to declare independence as "We are an independent country already, and we call ourselves the Republic of China (Taiwan)." Eryk Michael Smith is a Taiwan-based correspondent who since 2007, has worked both as a broadcast journalist for the island's only English-language radio station, ICRT, as well as with numerous other publications and local news outlets. Smith's journalism focuses on Taiwan-China relations, local politics, as well as science and technology developments in the greater China region. He is based in Taiwan's largest southern city, Kaohsiung. He can be followed @ErykSmithTaiwan

The 64-year-old Lai has pledged to follow Tsai’s lead if elected and maintain the status quo. That is not good enough for Chinese President Xi Jinping, the all-powerful leader of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), nor the Chinese Communist Party (CPP). They vow to settle for no less than complete capitulation, although they have "generously" offered Taiwan the same deal as Hong Kong, the so-called "one country, two systems" policy.