Taiwan’s main opposition party announces vice presidential candidate

Taiwan’s main opposition Nationalist Party announced its vice presidential candidate Friday as hopes fractured for a cross-party alliance to challenge the ruling Democratic Progressive Party and relations with China remained tense.
The outcome of the election could have major effects on relations between China and the United States, which is bound by its own laws to provide Taiwan with the weapons it needs to defend itself. Differences over Taiwan are a major flashpoint in U.S.-China relations.
Hou Yu-ih said former legislator and Cabinet member Chao Shao-kang would be his running mate in the January polls. Chao had led a breakaway faction of Nationalist politicians who established the New Party in the 1990s, but has since returned the Nationalist camp as the DPP has held on to power in both the presidential office and the legislature.