Lai Ching-te¡¯s mother was bitterly disappointed when the Harvard-educated doctor told her in the 1990s he was giving up his medical career to enter politics.
She might forgive him now: As Taiwan¡¯s vice president, Lai was named Wednesday as the ruling Democratic Progressive Party¡¯s candidate in next year¡¯s presidential election ¡ª a vote being watched more closely than ever from Washington to Beijing.
With U.S.-China tensions increasingly centered around Taiwan ¡ª the self-governing island Beijing claims as its own ¡ª the winner of the January 2024 election will immediately step into a role that could determine the trajectory of geopolitics and the global economy for years to come.
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