Taiwan election about choosing whether to embrace China, frontrunner says

Taiwan's people have to make a choice at next year's election about whether the island keeps moving forward on the road to democracy or "walks into the embrace of China", the frontrunner to be the next president said on Tuesday. The issue of China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory, looms large ahead of the Jan. 13 presidential and parliamentary elections, especially as Beijing has been stepping up its military pressure against the island. Lai Ching-te, vice president and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) presidential candidate, has led in most opinion polls ahead of the election. The DPP champions Taiwan's separate identity from China. The largest opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), which traditionally favours close ties with Beijing, is locked in a dispute with the smaller Taiwan People's Party (TPP) about which of their candidates should run as president and which as vice president after initially agreeing to work together.