Taiwan’s ruling party taps VP as presidential candidate

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan’s pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party has nominated Vice President Lai Ching-te as its candidate in next year’s presidential election. At a nominating event Wednesday, Lai said he would continue to assert the self-governing island’s right to international recognition while boosting its high-tech economy and promoting an efficient government. Lai was originally trained as a physician with a master’s in public health from Harvard. Lai became a legislator, a mayor of the southern city of Tainan and Taiwan’s premier before challenging President Tsai Ing-wen for the party’s presidential nomination in 2019. After Tsai won the primary, Lai accepted her offer to be her running mate and the pair easily defeated the main opposition Nationalist Party in 2020.