Taiwan’s Kuomintang to pick New Taipei City mayor as presidential candidate

Taiwan’s main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party will pick New Taipei City mayor Hou Yu-ih to be its presidential candidate at the election early next year, a senior party source told Reuters on Wednesday.
The run-up to the vote in mid-January is taking place at a time of increased tensions between Taipei and Beijing, which has staged regular military exercises near Taiwan to assert its sovereignty claims over the democratically governed island despite Taiwan’s strong objections.
The KMT favours close ties with China while the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) champions Taiwan’s separate identity.
The senior party source said the KMT will announce Hou as the presidential candidate later on Wednesday. A second party source said Hou is widely expected within the party to become the candidate. Both sources declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.