China To Pile On Pressure After Rebuke From Taiwan's Voters

China, which split with Taiwan at the end of a civil war in 1949, regards the island as a renegade province that must eventually be reunified, by force if necessary (Credit: AFP)

China's campaign of warplanes, balloons and fearsome rhetoric to intimidate voters in Taiwan's elections may have failed, but few expect President Xi Jinping to deviate from his strategy of maximum pressure.

Taiwan voters on Saturday elected independence-leaning Lai Ching-te as president, handing an unprecedented third consecutive term to the Democratic Progressive Party, which Beijing strongly opposes.