China’s Election Interference in Taiwan Explained

As Taiwan prepares for its eighth presidential election since democratization, the island is facing increasingly varied and sophisticated attempts by China to influence the outcome of the contest. The poll on January 13 will determine who becomes only the fifth directly elected president of the nation of 23 million people since 1996. Voters will also have a say in which party controls the legislature, shaping the course of the island’s two most important relationships: China, which has framed the contest as a choice between peace and war, and the United States, Taiwan’s largest security provider and advocate on the world…