Had Taiwan's voters cast their ballots in last weekend's elections for president and legislature on predominantly domestic issues, incumbent President Tsai Ing-wen and her Democratic Progressive Party may well have lost heavily, as they did in 2018's local elections.
As it turned out, the China factor -- its meddling with the election, its threats to Taiwan's sovereignty, its violence in Hong Kong -- largely, but not exclusively, gifted Tsai and the DPP a massive victory. Tsai won a record 8.2 million votes, or 57%, and the DPP surprisingly maintained its majority in the Legislative Yuan.
