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Taiwan polls open
22/03/2008 07:38 - (SA)
Taipei - The polls are open in Taiwan's presidential election.
Some 17 million eligible voters will choose between opposition front-runner Ma Ying-jeou and Frank Hsieh of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party.
The main issue is Taiwan's troubled relations with China. The two sides split amid civil war in 1949 and Beijing continues to claim the island as part of its territory. It has threatened to go to war if Taiwan formalizes its de facto independence.
Both Ma and Hsieh want to turn the corner on the confrontational China policies of outgoing President Chen Shui-bian.
But Ma wants to go further than his rival. He favours reaching a peace treaty with Beijing and negotiating a common market to boost the already robust trade ties between the sides.
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