Taiwan poll looms as unwanted headache for Obama in final year

With all the other issues on his plate, probably the last thing U.S. President Barack Obama will want to deal with in his final year in office is a possible return to crisis in Taiwan-China relations.

But after years of warming Taipei-Beijing ties that have been welcomed by Washington, this is a real prospect with the leader of Taiwan's independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) - an organization loathed by Beijing - looking set for victory in elections on Saturday.

While Tsai Ing-wen has said she will not provoke China if elected president, the risk of worsening China-Taiwan ties is viewed with concern in Washington at a time when it is trying to tamp down tension over growing Chinese military power and assertive pursuit of territorial claims elsewhere in Asia.

Read the full article at Reuters.