TAIPEI—Taiwan votes on Jan. 11 in an election overshadowed by renewed Chinese efforts to get the island to accept their rule, and as Taiwan nervously watches Hong Kong protests, worried they may be next if China ever succeeds in bringing them under its control.
Taiwan has been a democratic success story since holding its first direct presidential election in 1996, the culmination of decades of struggle against authoritarian rule and martial law under the Kuomintang, which ruled China until forced to flee to Taiwan in 1949 after loosing a civil war with the Communists.
