Member of Taiwan’s pro-unification Nationalists elected speaker in a consolation prize for China

By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN
Associated Press

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — A member of Taiwan’s pro-unification Nationalists has been elected speaker of the island’s legislature. The election of Han Kuo-Yu on Thursday is sort of consolation prize for China after the candidate of the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party won Taiwan’s presidential election on Jan. 13. The Nationalists, also known as the Kuomintang or KMT, won 52 of the legislature’s 113 seats. Han secured the speakership without an absolute majority but won the support of two independent lawmakers for a total of 54 votes on Thursday. The Chinese government has refused most contact with Taiwan’s government since the Democratic Progressive Party won the presidency in 2016. But Beijing has been in regular contact with the Nationalists.