William Lai elected president of Taiwan in historic poll

Taiwanese people voted for William Lai to be their president in a very important election. This shows that Taiwan is going in a different direction from China.

Beijing is probably going to be upset because they think Mr Lai causes problems with his beliefs about independence.

China says that it controls Taiwan, even though Taiwan governs itself. While it wants the two sides to come together peacefully, it’s also willing to use force if necessary.

It said the Taiwan election was about choosing between “war and peace”.

Beijing’s government doesn’t like Mr Lai’s DPP party, which has been in charge of Taiwan for eight years. China has increased its military around the island, making people more worried about a possible fight.

Mr Lai won his party a third term in the presidency, which has never happened before. In his first comments after his opponents admitted defeat, he indicated that this was a path that could not be changed.

The country will keep moving in the right direction. “We won’t focus on the past,” he told the journalists in a press conference.

Later, Lai spoke to a large crowd in Taipei and said that his win was a victory for democracy.

“We did it. ” We didn’t allow outside forces to impact our election. “Because we decided that only we can pick our president,” he said. Before the election, Taiwan said that China tried to meddle in the voting.

But Mr Lai also had something to say to China.

He told reporters that he prefers talking and exchanging ideas instead of causing problems and fighting, and he wants peace and stability with Beijing.

He said he will keep things the way they are between Taiwan and China and protect Taiwan from any danger from China.

In the past, Mr Lai said he wanted Taiwan to be separate from China, which made China very upset. But now he says if he becomes president, he won’t try to make it happen.

Mr Lai got 40% of the vote, which is more than Hou Yu-ih from the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party. Since 2000, Taiwan has switched back and forth between the DPP and the KMT, which is more friendly towards Beijing.

Newcomer politician Ko Wen-je from the Taiwan People’s Party, who is liked by young voters, got 25% of the vote.

On Saturday, people picked their lawmakers. According to Taiwanese media, the DPP no longer has the most seats in parliament. The opposition is growing stronger, but no single party has enough seats to control the parliament.

Some people think that if the opposition party controls the legislature and the DPP president is in charge, it could make governing Taiwan more difficult.