Why Australia should be celebrating Taiwan's free elections

But now Tsai has reached her two-term limit. Opinion surveys suggest her anointed DPP successor, Lai Ching-te, holds a slight lead (38.9 per cent) in a contest with Hou Yu-ih of the Kuomintang or KMT (35.8 per cent) and Ko Wen-je of the Taiwan People's Party or TPP (22.4 per cent). The DPP is the party most associated with a distinct Taiwanese identity and profound mistrust of President Xi Jinping's China. It was born championing democratic rights against KMT martial law in the 1980s. A third DPP term would underscore how enduringly Xi and his suppression of Hong Kong have…