wants unification with china. rupert wingfield hayes, bbc news in taipei. we will continue to follow the story for you through the course of the night of course but we want to go to our special coverage now. with less than three days to go until the iowa caucuses, we ll take a closer look at the first presidential contest of 202a. every four years, the us state of iowa kicks off the presidential nomination process but how does the process work? let s break it down. the caucuses are how iowa voters from both the republican and democratic parties select their presidential nominees. the process is different from how most other us states make their pick. the caucuses are run by political parties, unlike primaries, which are typically organised by each state. and while primary ballots allows voters to cast ballots early or show up throughout election day, caucuses must be attended in person at a scheduled time. this year republican voters will gather at 1900 local time on monday, january 15
william lai of the ruling dpp who is vowing to strengthen the island s ties with other democracies. the opposition party candidate who usually of the kmt says he will push for more dialogue. with china. gaining traction with younger voters. rupert wingfield hayes reports. taiwan elections are noisy, boisterous affairs. in front of the presidential building in taipei, supporters of the ruling dpp are hoping for an unprecedented third presidential term. young voters told me they want to send a message to beijing that taiwan is nothing like china. in china, you cannot stand for your rights on the street and the way to express our opinion, we can vote for president. we can have many, many different voices, no matter if you
eight years we have tried - continuously to extend goodwill. unfortunately, china has not responded to these gestures. we hope in the future china will realise peace serves the interests of both sides. for taiwan s main opposition party, the kmt, it was another humiliation. it had run on a platform of getting closer to china. the kmt is the party xi jinping would prefer to see running this island. instead voters gave the party he loathes an historic third presidential win. now, everybody is waiting to see how china s leader will respond. rupert wingfield hayes, bbc news, in taipei. mr lai s presidency will likely be judged by how well he manages an increasingly aggressive beijing and whether he can avert a major crisis in the region.
i think also china first proposed united states a supporting piece for unification. at present, they stand on china s mainland. most chinese people believe in the future, it will be unified. we trust it. there is still a significant difference in how china sees taiwan and how taiwan sees itself. what that means in the days and weeks ahead is something we will be keeping an ion, but for now and today, it is back to you. thank you very much, steve, in taipei. we ve had some initial reactions to the elections from china. for the very
the kmt, it was another humiliation. it had run on a platform of getting closer to china. the kmt is the party xi jinping would prefer to see running this island. instead voters gave the party he loathes an historic third presidential win. now everybody is waiting to see how china s leader will respond. rupert wingfield hayes, bbc news, in taipei. mr lai s presidency will likely be judged by how well he manages an increasingly aggressive beijing and whether he can avert a major crisis in the region. the chinese communist party has never ruled taiwan, but claims the self governing island is part of its territory. earlier, our china correspondent laura bicker updated us on china s reaction to the election results. we ve just had a statement from the taiwan affairs office which says that the results of these elections in the taiwan region show that the democratic progressive party cannot represent the mainstream public opinion on the island. that s obviously a nod to the result that willi