Elections in Taiwan: Beijing has made clear its preference that next president should be anyone other than Lai

News Snapshot:

As passengers emerge from Jiangzicui subway station in New Taipei City they come face to face with a giant electronic billboard showing a campaign video for Lin Guochun. A former police officer who has been a local councillor for 30 years, Lin is hoping to win a seat in Taiwan’s parliament, the legislative yuan, for the opposition Kuomintang (KMT). “If you are in trouble, just call my mobile number and I’ll listen to you myself,” he tells voters. The location of Lin’s election office carries a message of its own because it was here in 2014 that Cheng Chieh, a...