The opposition’s failure to work together puts the DPP’s William Lai in pole position for January’s presidential election.

Taiwan’s opposition parties are expected to register separate candidates for next year’s presidential election, hours after an attempt to field a joint candidacy against the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) failed acrimoniously on live television.

The main opposition Kuomintang Party (KMT) is proposing Hou Yu-ih for the presidency, while Ko Wen-je, who is doing better in opinion polls, will run for the smaller Taiwan People’s Party (TPP).

The KMT chose pro-China media personality Jaw Shaw-kong as Hou’s vice president, while the TPP chose one of its MPs, Cynthia Wu.

Terry Gou, the billionaire founder of Apple supplier Foxconn, announced He would run as an independent in August, but he is far behind the other candidates in opinion polls and it is not clear whether he will register with the Electoral Commission by 0930 GMT on Friday.

The Jan. 13 election comes as Beijing, which views Taiwan as its own territory, increases military and political pressure on the self-ruled island. The DPP, which says the people of Taiwan must be the ones to decide their future, is fielding current Vice President William Lai as its candidate Hsiao Bi-khim, Taipei’s former envoy to the United States, as its vice president. China calls them “separatists” and the “independence duo.”

The opposition parties, which are seen as more pro-Beijing, announced this last week put forward a common candidate a move that represents a major challenge for Lai, who is well ahead in the polls.

But like her fought Efforts to reach an agreement failed spectacularly late Thursday when the KMT abandoned the final talks at a Taipei hotel brokered by Gou and broadcast them live on television.

In one of the most dramatic moments, the KMT’s Hou read out a private text message from the TPP’s Ko that said Gou had to “find a reason” to drop out of the presidential campaign.

DPP united

Amid unrest in the opposition, the DPP remained united with Lai and Hsiao to register on Tuesday and are moving forward with their campaign.

At a rally late Thursday, Lai expressed contempt for the opposition.

“Should we dare to hand over the business of running the country to these people?” he said. “Of course that’s not okay.”

China has long warned against using force to take control of Taiwan, and the KMT has sought to portray itself as the party that can best work with China and avoid conflict.

At a meeting with the media on Thursday, the DPP’s Hsiao said war was “not an option” and the party was determined to maintain the status quo.

“It is important that the international community … make it clear to our colleagues across the Taiwan Strait that dialogue is the only way to resolve differences,” she said.

Shortly after President Tsai Ing-wen’s first election in 2016, Beijing cut high-level contacts with the island and increased its military activities.

They kept up the pressure after it returned in a landslide in the last election in 2020 and also conducted large-scale military exercises to express their displeasure with high-profile visits to the island by politicians such as the then-Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi or Foreign travel from Tsai and Lai.