Ten days before the presidential election in Taiwan, the candidate of the ruling DPP party, Vice President William Lai, is still leading. In the last polls before the election – no more polls are permitted after January 3 – Lai is ahead of his rival from the conservative Kuomintang, Hou Yu-ih (27 percent), with 32 percent in a poll conducted by the United Daily News newspaper on Tuesday. Ko Wen-je from the Taiwan People’s Party, only founded in 2019, came in at 21 percent. Lai also led in other polls, such as the one conducted by TVBS on Monday. The outcome of the election has an impact on relations with China: Beijing traditionally favors the KMT, which emphasizes dialogue. Under DPP governments, relations have always been frosty; the CCP regularly accuses the party’s politicians of secession attempts. ck