“Outside interference” must be avoided during Taiwan’s election in 2024, according to the senior diplomat of the United States in Taipei, who stated on Monday that the United States’ stance toward the island will stay the same regardless of who wins.

During the presidential and parliamentary elections that will take place on January 13, Taiwan’s relations with its neighbors might be defined by the results of these elections. President Tsai Ing-wen and other authorities have warned that China may attempt to influence voters in favor of candidates who desire stronger ties with Beijing.

However, even though diplomatic relations with the Chinese-claimed island have been severed, the United States continues to be Taiwan’s most significant international backer and weaponry supplier.

In a lecture that she delivered at National Taiwan University, Sandra Oudkirk, who is the director of the American Institute in Taiwan and the de facto representative of the United States in Taiwan, they were stated that the United States has a great deal of faith in Taiwan’s democratic system and election procedures.

“We believe it is for the Taiwan voters to decide their next leader, free from outside interference,” stated the politician.

“And as I have said many times before, the United States is not taking sides in Taiwan’s election, we do not have a preferred candidate and we know very well that we do not have a vote,” according to Oudkirk. “We support Taiwan’s vibrant democracy and look forward to working with whichever leaders Taiwan voters elect in 2024.”

According to the results of popular opinion surveys, Lai Ching-te, presently serving as vice president and a member of the Democratic Progressive Party, is the leading candidate to become Taiwan’s next leader. China has rejected several of Lai’s invitations for negotiations because of China’s strong distaste for him and its belief that he is a separatist.

Lai’s primary adversary is Hou Yu-ih, a member of Taiwan’s major opposition party, the Kuomintang. This party has always supported tight connections with China. Still, it vehemently rejects being pro-Beijing and asserts that it will continue to preserve its close relationship with the United States.

The Chinese government has increased the amount of military pressure it exerted against Taiwan over the previous four years. This includes conducting two rounds of massive war exercises near the island in the past year and a half.

Geert Wilders, a populist from the far right who won a historic election that will have implications in the Netherlands and Europe, has stated that he is interested in being the next prime minister of the Netherlands and that, if elected, he will concentrate his efforts on reducing immigration.

Wilders, vehemently anti-Islam and anti-EU, is an admirer of the former President of the United States, Donald Trump, and the eurosceptic Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orban. Wilders has also threatened to cut Dutch contributions to the European Union and oppose the accession of any new members, including Ukraine.

While other parties that he must collaborate with to form a coalition government will reject Wilders’ most radical proposals, fellow populists like Matteo Salvini, Italy’s deputy prime minister and leader of the far-right League, have praised his success as proof that “a new Europe is possible.”

On Wednesday, Wilders’ Freedom Party (PVV) gained 37 seats out of 150, easily beating all projections. This put them comfortably ahead of a joint Labour/Green ticket, which got 25 seats, and the conservative People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), led by outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte, won 24 seats.

Wilders stated on Thursday to the Dutch media that he aspired to hold the position of prime minister and that he supported a referendum on whether the Netherlands should exit the EU.

“But the first thing is a significant restriction on asylum and immigration,” according to Wilders. “We don’t do that for ourselves; we do that for all the Dutch people who voted for us.”

Although Wilders’ party will hold roughly a quarter of the seats in parliament, he will need to tone down some of his more extreme positions to form a coalition with more established parties and assume the leadership role.

Even though none of the parties with whom Wilders might form a government would be ready to quit the EU or breach constitutional provisions on freedom of religion in the Netherlands, Wilders has stated that he is optimistic that a compromise can be achieved.

Pieter Omtzigt, a moderate politician who leads the Freedom Party, the VVD, and the NSC party, would control 81 legislative seats if they joined forces. This would make it the most apparent combination. Because leaders of the VVD and NSC have voiced qualms about cooperating with Wilders, coalition discussions are anticipated to take many months to complete.

The victory of Geert Wilders should serve as a wake-up call to mainstream parties across Europe in front of the elections for the European Parliament in June 2019, which are expected to be fought over the same concerns as the election in the Netherlands, including immigration, the cost of living, and climate change.

Herman Borcher, a voter in the town of Enschede in the east of the country, expressed his satisfaction with the election outcome by saying, “We had it with the old politicians.”

Voter Sabine Schoppen agreed that “the Netherlands needed change,” She smiled, “Rutte, see you later.” The pleasure is all mine, Geert Wilders.”

‘NEW EUROPE,’ you say?
The election in Poland a month ago, won by a coalition of pro-European parties over the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party, demonstrated that not all countries in the region are moving to the right.

“The Netherlands are not France,” French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire promptly commented, conceding that the Dutch election demonstrated “the fears emerging in Europe” about immigration and the economy. “The fears that are emerging in Europe” refer to concerns about the economy and immigration.

But Wilders’ win comes just two months after the return to power in Slovakia of another anti-EU populist, Robert Fico, who has vowed to stop providing military aid to Ukraine and limit immigration.

“The winds of change are here!,” Orban of Hungary said.

Wilders has stated on many occasions that the Netherlands needs to cease supplying arms to Ukraine because he believes that the nation requires weapons to be able to protect itself. He is an ardent supporter of Israel.

BE FEARFUL
Following Wilders’ election, some rights organizations—including Islamic, Moroccan, and other rights organizations—expressed concern. About five percent of the whole population identifies as Muslim.

“These election results are shocking for Dutch Muslims,” said Muhsin Koktas of the Dutch Muslim organization CMO. “This election result is shocking for Dutch Muslims.” “We have great concerns about the future of Islam and Muslims in the Netherlands.”

Amnesty International issued the following statement: “Yesterday, human rights were lost.”

suddenly that Wilders has won, all eyes will be on the possible government partners who had strong reservations about working with him throughout the campaign but are suddenly being less vociferous about those reservations following his victory.

“We are available to govern,” Omtzigt of the NSC party declared. “This is an unfortunate turn of events. On Thursday, we will discuss how we might be able to participate most effectively.

The leader of the VVD, Dilan Yesilgoz, declared earlier this week that her party would not take part in a Geert Wilders-led administration. However, she stated that the winner was responsible for demonstrating that he could obtain a majority.

On Friday, the heads of the parties will get together to select an “explorer,” a political outsider who will listen to each party’s perspective on the potential outcomes of coalition discussions and the options they like.

Many Americans are anxious for younger and less polarizing candidates for the presidential contest 2024 since it appears like they will have to choose between Democratic candidate Joe Biden and Republican candidate Donald Trump.

A sizeable and possibly significant market for third-party candidates, which have not been seen since the 1990s, serves as a sharp reminder that the two main parties are likely to nominate extraordinarily unpopular individuals. These candidates include Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

Their prospective rematch in the 2020 election comes at a time when the nation is struggling with economic worry, a solid political division, a contentious Israeli attack on Gaza supported by the United States, and broad calls for a new generation of leadership in the United States.

According to a recent survey conducted by Gallup, over 63% of people living in the United States now agree with the statement that both the Republican and Democratic parties do “such a poor job” of representing the people of the United States that “a third major party is needed.” That is seven percentage points more than a year ago and the most since Gallup began polling on the topic in 2003.

Despite widespread worries over Biden’s age and Trump’s streak of federal and state criminal prosecutions, both Biden and Trump are predicted to emerge as the candidates of their respective parties in 2024, even thofacingpponents.

Even though they have occasionally played outsized roles as spoilers by drawing votes away from major party candidates, third-party candidates have never been victorious in a contemporary presidential election in the United States.

In 1992, billionaire businessman Ross Perot won 19% of the vote, which is generally considered to have been the deciding factor in whether or not Democrat Bill Clinton or Republican George H.W. Bush would have been in the White House.

Ralph Nader, a political activist, received less than three percent of the vote in the 2000 presidential election. Still, he stole enough votes from Democratic nominee Al Gore in Florida to give George W. Bush the victory in the state and, with it, the White House.

According to a new survey conducted by Reuters and Ipsos, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist and scion of the Democratic dynasty who launched an independent presidential effort in October, might garner 20% of the vote in a three-way race against Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Kennedy Jr. announced his campaign for president as an independent in October.

In support of Kennedy’s candidacy is the “American Values 2024” SuperPac, which has amassed more than $17 million in contributions from a diverse group of wealthy backers, one of whom formerly supported Trump’s campaign.

On Tuesday, American Values 2024 sponsored an event in downtown Manhattan geared toward black and Latino voters. The event drew a crowd of around 40 individuals, including some attendees who could not identify Kennedy’s basic principles but stated that they respected his disruptive potential.

Since Barack Obama took office, we’ve been looking for a dissident. After that, we felt Bernie Sanders was a rebel, but initially, we thought he was a rebel. At that time, we believed that Trump was a renegade. Attendee Larry Sharpe, a previous Libertarian candidate for the office of New York governor who was present at the event, stated, “Now,, we know, of course, RFK is a rebel.”

Both parties have voiced concerns about a possible Kennedy candidacy. Democrats are concerned that his well-known surname and pro-environment and anti-corporate ideas would strike a chord with some of their supporters. Republicans are concerned that his rhetoric against vaccines and his popularity on conservative platforms might cause them to lose some of their support.

In a three-way contest, results from polls conducted by Reuters/Ipsos and others have shown that support for Kennedy comes about equally from Republicans and Democrats. On the other hand, Democrats are not making any assumptions about anything.

In general, we believe anything that drives a wedge among members of the anti-Trump alliance is a step in the wrong direction. According to Matt Bennett, a co-founder of the Democratic organization Third Way, located in the center-left of the political spectrum, “any option that you offer voters who simply can’t vote for Trump, other than Joe Biden, is problematic.”

Kennedy shouldn’t be viewed as a threat to just Biden or just Trump, according to Tony Lyons, cofounder of American Values 2024, who spoke with Reuters. Lyons remarked at the event in Manhattan, “He’s a danger to a corrupt two party system that isn’t doing things to help the people in this room,” referring to Trump.

The spokesperson for the Trump campaign, Steven Cheung, stated, “Polls show President Trump absolutely crushing Joe Biden even with other candidates present, both nationally and in battleground states.”

Because they were concerned that an outsider running might give the election to Trump, the Biden campaign chose not to respond.

Biden and Trump are soliciting considerably more money, even through third-party choices. During the most recent quarter, the president and his friends brought in $71 million, while Trump brought in $45.5 million.

Even though they do not yet have a candidate in place, the third-party political organization No Labels has already raised sixty million dollars for the election in 2024 and has qualified on the ballot in eleven states, including the swing states of Arizona, Nevada, and North Carolina.

“We’ve been trying to get the pulse of the electorate for the last two years, and it keeps telling the same story: people want better choices,” said Ryan Clancy, chief strategist with No Labels. This bipartisan group is mounting its first presidential bid after a few years of lending support to moderates in Congress. “We’ve been trying to get the pulse of the electorate for the last two years, and it keeps telling the same story, which is that people want better choices,” Clancy said.

The organization has been attempting to get the participation of former Republican Governor Larry Hogan of Maryland and current United States Senator Joe Manchin, a conservative Democrat from West Virginia who just declared that he will not be re-elected to the Senate.

On Wednesday, Manchin responded to NBC News’s question on whether or not he is contemplating a run for the White House by saying, “I will do anything I can to help my country.”

Clancy stated that No Labels intends to have a nominating convention in April and will choose a presidential ticket if it seems likely that a rematch between Biden and Trump will occur and if the party feels its candidates have a chance of winning.

It is generally agreed that other third-party candidates pose less of a danger. Cornel West, a black social activist and philosopher, also runs for office as an independent candidate. He has high expectations that his style of in-your-face progressive politics will influence the 2024 discussion.

Jill Stein has announced that she will once again run for president as a candidate for the Green Party. It is anticipated that neither West nor Stein will garner a significant portion of the vote, and they will have difficulty appearing on state ballots.

During a recent interview with ProPublica, Joe Biden was questioned on his former Democratic colleague Joe Lieberman’s efforts with the organization No Labels to locate and support a moderate candidate running for a third-party position. Biden pointed out that it is within Lieberman’s democratic rights to do so, but he added, “Now, it’s going to help the other guy, and he knows (that).”