Trump-Lai wild card combination stokes fear in Beijing, analyst says

WASHINGTON -- The prospect of having former U.S. President Donald Trump and Taiwan President-elect Lai Ching-te in office at the same time is leaving China scrambling to rethink strategies, an analyst said Tuesday after the Taiwan election and the Iowa Republican caucuses.

"Beijing's real nightmare scenario is not necessarily watching Lai Ching-te winning the presidency of Taiwan, but it's the combination of Lai Ching-te and perhaps Donald Trump coming back into the White House," Rorry Daniels of the Asia Society Policy Institute's Center for China Analysis said at the institute's seminar.