'He looks very old': Stakes high in Taiwan election but candidates draw little enthusiasm from voters

When Hou Yu-ih, the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) candidate for Taiwan's presidency, met the international press in Taipei on Thursday, he was keen to reassure them. Although he wanted more dialogue with Beijing, he said it would not come at the expense of Taipei's relationship with the United States. He ruled out any talks with Xi Jinping about reunification with mainland China and said that repairing the relationship should start with the private sector, including religious groups as well as businesses. And he claimed that the real risk to global stability came from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate, vice-president Lai…