Taiwan holds biggest local elections

Voters in Taiwan are going to the polls in the island's biggest local election, which is widely seen as a referendum on the China policy of the ruling party, the BBC reported.

Almost 20,000 candidates are running for more than 11,000 posts on nine levels of government.

Critics say the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) party is too close to China, while its supporters say Taiwan needs good relations with its powerful neighbour.

China sees Taiwan as renegade province with which it should be re-united.

China and Taiwan have been ruled separately since the end of a civil war in 1949.

Polling stations across the island opened at 08:00 local time (00:00 GMT), with more than 18 million eligible voters registered.

Almost 20,000 candidates are running for more than 11,000 positions.

The KMT currently holds the presidency, a legislative majority, and most of Taiwan's cities and counties, although recent opinion polls have suggested that it risks losing its traditional strongholds such as Taipei and Taichung.

Some voters fear that if the KMT is allowed to continue building strong ties with China, Taiwan may become too economically dependent on the mainland and vulnerable to its pressures to reunify one day, the BBC's Cindy Sui in Taipei reports.

They distrust the KMT, regardless of whether the deals signed with Beijing are good for Taiwan, the correspondent says.