How Taiwan's election fits into the island's past, and its future

Taiwan's election has big implications not only for the 23 million people who live on the island, but also for China's rivalry with the United States (US).

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Voters chose as their next president Lai Ching-te, the current vice president, who has vowed to continue his party's policy of protecting the island's sovereignty.

The vote is a rebuke to Beijing's claim over Taiwan and the growing pressure it has been exerting on the island democracy.

As in all major Taiwanese elections, how to deal with China was a central focus of campaigning.

What is the controversy?

Since 1949, when the Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek fled the Chinese mainland for Taiwan after losing a civil war to Mao Zedong's Communist forces, the island's status and future has been disputed.

Democratisation in the 1990s paved the way for the emergence of a Taiwanese identity separate from the Chinese one imposed by the Nationalists on the island.

However, only a handful of nations officially recognise Taiwan as a sovereign state, despite being treated almost as such by many countries.

What is China's position?

China's ruling Communist Party continues to claim sovereignty over Taiwan, even though it has never administered the island.