The Irish Times view on the election in Taiwan: Beijing should respect the vote

News Snapshot:

Lai Ching-te’s victory in Saturday’s presidential election in Taiwan saw President Tsai Ing-wen’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) win an unprecedented third successive term in office. But in a competitive, three-way race, the DPP saw its vote share drop sharply so that Lai won just over 40 per cent, compared to the 57 per cent Tsai won in 2020. His failure to win a majority prompted Beijing’s Taiwan Affairs Office to declare that Lai did not represent mainstream opinion on the self-governing island. And it said the election result would not alter the Chinese Communist Party’s view that Taiwan is an...