In Taiwan's presidential election, Beijing's on the ballot

Polls show Lai is ahead of KMT candidate Hou You-ih by between 3 and 11 percentage points. But the polls are more than a week old, and there's still the possibility of an upset by Hou. A third party candidate, Ko Wen-je, who trails both Lai and Hou, also supports cozier relations with Beijing. In an apparent move to widen his appeal, Lai has been soft-pedaling his pro-independence platform with a pledge to maintain a status quo that won't provoke war with China. China's threats to Taiwan have overshadowed pocketbook issues including housing prices and inflation in the election, which…