Taipei mayor candidates face off in televised debate

TAIPEI, Taiwan – The candidates vying to become the mayor of Taiwan’s capital, Taipei, have faced off in a televised debate, two weeks before local elections seen as a barometer of the ruling party’s popularity.

The Nov. 24 mayoral election is one of hundreds in Taiwan for local government posts seen as a test of confidence in the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, which swept to power in 2016 with the election of President Tsai Ing-wen.

The DPP’s main opposition is the Nationalist Party, which relocated from mainland China amid civil war in 1949 and governed Taiwan for decades. The presidency has since alternated between the two parties, with the Nationalists seen as more pro-China and the DPP backing formal independence for Taiwan.