From Democracy Digest, the National Endowment for Democracy’s daily blog:

The most consequential election of 2020 might not come at the end of the year, when US President Donald Trump seeks a second term in the White House, but much earlier and closer to home for Australia, in Taiwan this weekend, according to the Lowy Institute.

Taiwan has long been seen as important as a proxy for the battle for hegemony between China and the United States in the region. The geo-strategic implications of China gaining control of Taiwan are nothing less than transformational, as such an event would signal the definitive end of the US-dominated post-war system in what is now the world’s most dynamic economic region, say analysts Natasha Kassam and Richard McGregor:

Equally significant are the possible means by which China wins — either through a military victory, which, no matter how quickly it was achieved, would be disruptive to the global economy — or by undermining the island’s now well-established democracy, which would mark a significant advance in the rise of authoritarian global governance and undermine other democracies in Asia.

Which is why Taiwan is  ‘battling a wave of online disinformation’ as Beijing employs various ‘active measures’ to influence the election.

Read the article here.