Polls open as Taiwan voters choose next president, weighing China's threat and island's stability

Taiwanese are casting their votes Saturday for a new president in an election that could chart the trajectory of its relations with China over the next four years. At stake is the peace and stability of the 110-mile-wide (177-kilometer-wide) strip of water between the Chinese mainland and the self-governed island claimed by China as its own. Vice President Lai Ching-te, representing the governing Democratic Progressive Party, known as the DPP, seeks to succeed the outgoing President Tsai Ing-wen and give the independence-leaning party an unprecedented third term. Lai will be voting in his hometown of Tainan. Advertisement Hou Yu-ih, the…