As votes determining the next US president were being counted, people gathered yesterday morning at a bar in downtown Taipei to follow live updates of a race that was clearly moving in former US president Donald Trump’s favor.
At a watch party in Taipei hosted by Democrats Abroad’s chapter in Taiwan, visual artist Laura Hobson was enjoying her breakfast with a male friend while occasionally casting a glance over the table to check the vote count on a big screen.
Hobson, who is a registered Democrat and has always voted for the party’s candidate, told Central News Agency that she believed a US Vice President Kamala Harris presidency would be better for Taiwan than a second term for the Republican Party’s Trump.
Photo: CNA
“Trump has said that he will cut off any protections on Taiwan, so I think Kamala will do a little bit better, at least trying to negotiate with our allies to do better for the world,” Hobson said.
Apart from continuing the foreign policy of US President Joe Biden, she highlighted Harris’ background as a prosecutor, saying that her good negotiation skills and the ability to hold people accountable might enable her to “push [her agenda] further.”
Alan Sicher, who has lived in Taiwan for 16 years and works in the computer industry, echoed similar views in a room full of attentive and nervous Democrats.
Many of them wore T-shirts printed with Harris’ face, and they cheered and waved their cardboards when it was announced that Harris won a state or that a Democrat won a down-ballot race.
“If Harris gets elected, I think we can expect some continuation of the last four years,” Sicher said, referring to the prospects for US-Taiwan relations and Washington’s engagement with other countries in the Indo-Pacific region.
A Harris administration would be “more stable, more alliance-based,” he said.
On the other hand, Trump has demonstrated his admiration for authoritarian leaders such as Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) while expressing skepticism over US alliances with other countries in Asia, he said.
“He’s very anti-democratic,” he said of the Republican Party’s candidate, expressing concern over what he called Trump’s pro-Russia stance and his desire to withdraw funding for Ukraine in its fight against Russian troops.
If Trump is elected and he allows Moscow to maintain the land in Ukraine that it has conquered, it would send “a positive signal to Xi Jinping,” he said.
Leo Chen, a Taiwanese wearing a T-shirt with an image of Trump being shot while campaigning, disagreed.
Chen, who works in the security sector, said he believed Trump was more capable of addressing what he called Beijing’s unfair international trade practices.
Chen said he noticed Trump’s recent comments that Taiwan should pay for US protection, but did not consider them to be a shift in attitude.
Trump has also asked European countries to shoulder more financial responsibility for NATO, he said.
Taiwan’s strategic location made it less likely for Washington to easily walk away from its commitment to the nation, he said.
Sicher and Hobson also mentioned their attachment to social issues such as women’s rights, immigration and race as well as the economy.
“I feel like my position is more aligned with the Democratic Party than the far-right,” Sicher said. “The Republican Party nowadays is really the Trump party... All their positions are crazy to me.”
Hobson, who has lived in Taiwan for 11 years, said medical care matters most for her.
“We need universal healthcare. And living in Taiwan, I just want all this stuff that we have here [also] in America,” she said.
Although the participants were hopeful, the results yesterday were showing that Trump was doing well in the southern swing states.
Hobson said she was nervous and a little frustrated.
“I can’t wrap my head around anyone that can support someone that doesn’t want to give more freedom and independence to people,” she said.
As more results came in, the crowd thinned.
Democrats Abroad is the official Democratic Party arm for the millions of Americans living outside of the US.
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